Living Garden to Honor Influential

By Tori La Rue | [email protected]

Taylorsville - The Taylorsville City Leisure, Activities, Recreation and Parks Committee is instituting a “Remember Me” Garden as a living tribute to honor deceased individuals who contributed to the community. 

“We want to recognize people who have done special things for the city by naming buildings and streets after them, but it becomes very difficult to have enough streets and buildings for those we want to honor,” Keith Sorensen, committee chair, said. “A ‘Remember Me’ Garden will be a simple place where those people to be recognized.” 

Beginning in May, residents who wish to honor someone may purchase a plaque and rosebush from the committee. The plaque will be placed in front of the bush in the special garden on the north side of the Taylorsville Senior Center at 4743 Plymouth View Drive, where there’s room for a few hundred bushes. Committee members are still figuring out details, but the cost for the personalize plaque and rosebush should be around $300, according to Sorensen. 

The plaque will give the name and a little bit of information about the person who is being honored, and the sponsors can pick which rosebush they want from select types of roses. 

“It won’t be a place of contest about whose bush is the biggest and best but a place of courtesy and respect where no one is better than anyone else,” Sorenson said. 

The idea for a Taylorsville “Remember Me” Garden came from Jerry Milne, committee member. He said he learned about special roses the state fire marshal’s office uses to honor firefighters and other community leaders, and he thought Taylorsville could use the idea of using roses to honor their own heroes. 

“We would like people to plant a rose in memory of a pioneer ancestor or some deceased Taylorsville family member who they want to remember over time,” Milne said. “Key people who were influential in the history and development of our city would probably be prime candidates if the family so chooses.” 

Milne said he’d heard of many communities having their own “Remember Me” Gardens. Some of the most well-known “Remember Me” Gardens are those that are located at or near the sites of the 9/11 attacks, which honor those who lost their lives in New York, at the Pentagon, and at a field in Shade Township, Somerset County, Pennsylvania. 

In all cases, “Remember Me” Gardens stand as a tribute to those who have passed on. 

“We think that this project would be a great historical memory resource for people to visit a beautiful rose garden for reflection and to reminisce throughout the years,” Milne said. 

The process to get the garden approved and find a plot of land took the committee over a year, but now that they’ve got those things figured out, they are ready to move forward, Sorenson said. The committee is still working to remove the sod, till the ground, add mulch, create hedges and install a sprinkler system at the site. Those who are interested in helping this process may contact the committee at [email protected]. 

Sorenson said they don’t know all of the details, but they’re hoping to have the first rosebushes and plaques in place by Memorial Day.