{"id":5342,"date":"2016-06-02T09:16:02","date_gmt":"2016-06-02T13:16:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=5342"},"modified":"2016-06-06T17:06:04","modified_gmt":"2016-06-06T21:06:04","slug":"memorial-garden-dedicated-honor-clms-student","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/memorial-garden-dedicated-honor-clms-student\/","title":{"rendered":"Memorial garden dedicated in honor of CLMS student"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was important to Leora Friedman they get this right.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all worked together knowing that it had to be special,\u201d said the eighth-grader and Corporate Landing Middle School (CLMS) SCA President. \u201cWe made stepping stones and we all came out and planted the flowers together.\u201d<\/p>\n

And what Friedman and her fellow SCA officers did together was incredibly moving for the family and friends of former CLMS student Ashley Maclure.<\/p>\n

\"garden<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how we\u2019ll ever be able to thank you for this,\u201d said Penny Maclure, Ashley\u2019s mother. \u201cIt\u2019s been almost 16 years since Ashley died. Through those years, we have grown as a family and we have seen her friends grow up. After all these years it\u2019s wonderful that she\u2019s still remembered and we appreciate it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through tears, Maclure addressed the small crowd of students and staff gathered to dedicate the Ashley Maclure Butterfly Garden May 20.\u00a0She and Ashley\u2019s father John Maclure were asked to officially open the garden with a ribbon cutting. Ashley\u2019s older sister Jessica sat nearby.<\/p>\n

\"ribbon<\/p>\n

Ashley lost her life in August 2000 at the age of 13. She was struck by a car while riding her bike at the intersection of Upton and Old Dam Neck roads and was not wearing a helmet at the time. Ashley died of a severe brain injury following three weeks in the intensive care unit at Children\u2019s Hospital of the King\u2019s Daughters.<\/p>\n

Her parents launched a helmet safety campaign, \u201cDon\u2019t Wing It,\u201d within the next year and distributed bumper stickers to schools. A promotional poster from the campaign was displayed in the garden at the dedication ceremony.<\/p>\n

\"poster\"<\/p>\n

SCA officers started planning the garden months ago, beginning by reviewing a letter sent by Mr. and Mrs. Maclure years prior.<\/p>\n

The letter notified CLMS that funds remaining in a school scholarship account established in Ashley\u2019s honor could be released, and her parents requested the funds be used \u201cas a relaxing beautiful garden the children can enjoy.\u201d\u00a0The letter also expressed their wishes that the garden include a memory stone, colorful flowers and representations of butterflies and angels.<\/p>\n

\"flowers\"<\/p>\n

Friedman and her peers took steps to make sure the Maclure\u2019s wishes were granted and worked with the school division\u2019s landscape services staff to prepare a garden location near the main entrance of the school.<\/p>\n

The memorial stone bears the inscription requested by Ashley\u2019s parents, \u201cIn memory of Ashley Maclure and all other children that attended Corporate Landing Middle that have lost their lives so young.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"memorial<\/p>\n

Smaller stones handpainted by students in Rachel Jenning\u2019s art class outline the garden\u2019s perimeter. Many feature butterflies and angels.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose were things Ashley Maclure appreciated,\u201d said Friedman.<\/p>\n

\"handpainted\"<\/p>\n

John Maclure joined his wife in taking a moment to express his gratitude to the students and staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you so much for doing this for our family. Life and time are extremely fleeting. Always love and respect yourself. Always love everybody else that you encounter. And always be thankful every day and make the most of it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"John<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to say one thing to all of you who have brothers and sisters,\u201d added Penny Maclure. \u201cGo home, give him a hug and kiss. Don\u2019t fight so much. I used to tell my girls, you never know what\u2019s going to happen. Show your siblings that you love them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know; sometimes it\u2019s hard,\u201d she acknowledged. \u201cI have eight siblings, but I love them. Just remember that they may not always be here. I love you all. Thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ashley\u2019s mother embraced Friedman, who was equally emotional about the project coming to fruition.<\/p>\n

\"embrace\"<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope this garden impacts the student body as much as it has us,\u201d Friedman said. \u201cIt\u2019s important not take life for granted because you never know when it may be your last day.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was important to Leora Friedman they get this right. \u201cWe all worked together knowing that it had to be special,\u201d said the eighth-grader and Corporate Landing Middle School (CLMS) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":5349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[74],"class_list":["post-5342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-connections","tag-corporate-landing-middle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5342"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5358,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5342\/revisions\/5358"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}