John Charles Van Beck (1934-2001) was born in St. Charles, Illinois, and moved to Florida in the late 1940s. He earned a bachelor's degree from Florida State University and a master's degree from the University of Florida. Linda May Lounsbury (1935- ) grew up in Ontario, Canada, attended Palm Beach Junior College in Orlando, Florida, and married John Van Beck in Palm Beach, Florida, in 1960. The couple had a daughter Sara Lindsey (1964- ), moved to Tallahassee, Florida, in 1965, and began gardening and researching historic varieties of daffodils on their property on Lake Lafayette in 1974. Linda is a self-taught painter and widely-exhibited artist, including at the LeMoyne Arts in Tallahassee, where she also served as curator. After working for several Florida State government agencies, John retired in 1991, and focused on his daffodil research, his work with the American Daffodil Society as Regional Director, and organizing the Florida Daffodil Society. He became recognized as an authority on daffodil culture in the South. After John's death in 2001, Linda co-authored, with her daughter Sara, Daffodils in Florida: A Field Guide to the Coastal South (2004), building on years of research compiled by John.

John Van Beck established the Florida Daffodil Society in 1994, and served as first president. The society promoted the planting of daffodils in private and public gardens, and researched historic and modern daffodils that could do well in Florida. The society also performed daffodil trials, produced a newsletter, Florida Daffodil Society News, and held bulb sales, flower shows, lectures, and other educational outreach activities. The society distributed over 390,000 daffodil bulbs to public garden and master gardener project gardens. After John's death in 2001, Linda helped grow the organization through various roles, including president. The society was a member of the American Daffodil Society and established the John Van Beck Medal for the Best Historic Bloom at the ADS National Convention in 2002. Also in 2002, the John Van Beck Memorial Daffodil Garden was established at McCord Park in Tallahassee, Florida. The society disbanded in 2017.