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Our Memorial Garden

First Unitarian Founded (Brick)  - Click to enlarge
Plans | Bricks Dedicated - Fall of 2000
Phase 1: Ground Breaking & Garden Walls 2000
Phase 2: Major Planting Completed - Summer 2001
Phase 3: Walkway Paved with Bricks- Fall 2002
Phase 4: Dedication and Use - 2003
Click to enlarge

A Garden Wedding - September 5, 2007

Click to enlarge

Gary Seronko + Curtis Rethmeier

Pictures by permission

Phase 4: Dedication and Use - 2003

Gathering to Dedicate - Click to enlargeWe Dedicate - Click to enlargePouring the Water - Click to enlargeClick to enlarge

Dedication Unison Reading

We, the members and friends of First Unitarian Church, dedicate this day our Memorial Garden.

We honor those who had the vision to see this project through.  We celebrate their patience, their perseverance, and their commitment to our community.

We are grateful to those who contributed their time and money, those who insured that this garden would be the place of beauty it has become.

May this garden continue to be a place where our memories are held safe and where our lives can be pondered.

May it be a haven for reflection, a playground of recollection, and a treasured reminder of the ways in which all our lives have been touched by those we have loved and lost.

Most of all, may it be a place where we can celebrate the blessing that is this community and the gift that is our living. 


Phase 3: Walkway Paved With Bricks - Fall 2002

Paved Pathway - Click to enlarge Paved Pathway - Click to enlarge Circle of Life - Click to enlarge Click to enlarge


Phase 2: Major Planting Completed - Summer 2001

Garden Pathway 7-21-2002Circle of Life 7-21-2002


 Phase 1: Ground Breaking and Garden Walls - Fall of 2000

MemorialGarden-WorkInProcess.jpg (45853 bytes) - Click to enlarge  MemorialGarden-GroundCover.jpg (55862 bytes) - Click to enlarge  MemorialGarden-CourtYard.jpg (56467 bytes) - Click to enlarge Click to enlarge


MemorialGarden2.jpg (100732 bytes)  MemorialGarden-Plan.jpg (53273 bytes) Click to enlarge

Memorial Garden Plans - Updated May 2005

The Memorial Garden is located on the east side of the Church near the front entrance.   Several phases have been planned and executed.  Phase 1 was completed in the fall of 2000. Phase 2 was completed in the summer of 2001.  Phase 3 included establishing a walkway and was completed in 2002.

The Memorial Garden walk winds through the garden and contains paving bricks and 8x8 inch granite plaques with the names of loved ones inscribed.  The center of the walk is a circle -- "The Circle of Life" -- and makes a lovely place for gatherings for weddings, meditation and memorial services.

Future plans, many of which are already in process, include

  • burial of cremains
  • refurbishing of the Church Patio with the addition of furniture
  • benches in the Garden  
  • a sculpture which will contain the names of those loved ones interred in the Garden.

There will be no markers of burial sites in the Garden, but a numbered grid will  give the exact location of individuals interred  there.


Persons/Groups For Whom Bricks/Granites Have Been PurchasedSome Dedicated Bricks - Click to enlarge

 
Grace and Ray Amos
Charles Anderson
Herbert Anderson
Donald Anderson
Eloise Anderson
David Bonine
Dr. Dale E. Briley
Darlene Brown
Community Life Committee 2000
John Knox Craig
Elsie French DuBay
Gerald Edwards
Gloria Edwards
Claribel Fehrman
Edward and Florence Fehrman Gurney
Edwin Earle Ferguson
Edna Griffin
Stan Griffin
Evelyn Hagland
Horton and Ethel Hays
George Hladkey
Jean and Sam Hughes
John and Elien Isom
Sadie Hope Johansen - grandchild birth
Keach Johnson
Ted C. Kelley
Tevka Lackmann  - birth
Theodore and Selma Larson Lantz
John and Jerry Martin
Betty C. Miller
Jud L. Miller
Percy and Violet French Morris
Mary Ellen Neal and family, Bill, Nancy and Steve
Lloyd R. Nelson
Jack and Bob
Bob Oliver
Gwen Peterson
Ida and Oval Quist
Charles and Signa Kallstedt Ransom
Beth Saunders
Dwight Saunders
Jack Sayre
Morris Spence
Ralph and Mildred Strand
Norman Thomas
Allen and Fern Whitten
Willi
Dan A. and Edna G. Williams
Alice Willis
Kathryn Wisdom: Unity Circle Alliance
Edgar Young
Florence Frette
Lehl Family - Deanna, Allan, Phil, Jon, Ben
Ethel Edgren
Walter Edgren
Evan Holly
Charlotte Shivvers and Bob Baker
Tom and Jane Rider
Elizabeth Henderson
Betz Christiansen
Caroline Axten Adler
Doug and Dagney Hoffman Fidler (marriage)
Phyllis Briley
Gordon and Lois Stead
Wissie and John Swanson
Rebecca and Scott Sonniksen and Lara
Amy and David Elbert, Holly, and Craig
 

Landscaper:
Sherrie Florman

City Gardens

Phone 480-2379  

Walk:
Bill Brown
Bill's Yard and Home Improvements
Phone 262-5235
 

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