Now for the rest of the story. . .
In less than a year the club and historical society have lost several members. Just a month or so ago, we lost club member Frank Olivera suddenly. In the few months preceding that, we lost former society director June Jacques; Daryl DeVries, son of society president Fred and Barb DeVries; and, Steve Glidden, husband of past society director Jackie Glidden. It had been suggested that we consider planting a garden to honor the memory of these folks, and others. One member had sent me some money to use for the garden. After talking with society director Laura Shields, I made a command decision that a garden would be a nice addition.
At Friday’s dinner as I drew up a rough outline of what the garden would be, it was designed as a rectangle that would be between the anchor and the capstan (though as you can see, this is not how it ended up . . .). The design was to have hydrangeas at the center, a rose at each corner and annuals filling out the garden. As it turns out, the hydrangeas are at the back of the garden, to hopefully grow and visually separate the anchor display from the piece of wall and bars from the Michigan City state prison; the roses are around the anchor; and, the annuals have been concentrated next to the capstan which is a little offset from the anchor. I don’t think Paul had seen the design and didn’t know the initial layout plan going into construction (this becomes important in a moment).
Sometime in mid-afternoon, Fred Devries stopped by to see how we were doing. He saw what was going on around the anchor and Paul told him we were building a memorial garden to honor those we had lost in the past year. (If I am misstating what Paul told Fred, I’m sure he will step in with a correction.) What I understood Paul to tell me was that he told Fred there was one rose for each of those we recently lost – Frank, June, Daryl and Steve. Paul noted that that really got to Fred. Well, that wasn’t the original intent, but I sure like the sentiment that it represents. I proposed the simple name “Anchor Garden” and most seem to like that. It will serve as a memorial to not just those noted above, but all those that we lose. In fact, Laura sent me a note that she just learned of the passing of a former docent at the light.
Trying to come up with something we would be able to display that would explain the significance of the garden, on Sunday morning I sat at the front office desk of the lighthouse and roughed this out:
The Anchor Garden
In honor and memory of those we have lost from our extended lighthouse family –
• Members of the Hoosier Lighthousing Club
• Michigan City Historical Society members and directors
• Old Lighthouse Museum docents
• Families of all for whom the Old Michigan City Lighthouse is such a true love
These extended family members will remain anchored to the light and in our memory.
May 2011
