When Jane Irene Johnson was a toddler, her father built a family cottage on Lake Manitook, just down the hill from her current Granby home. While not precisely a Granby native, Johnson, who has lived in town since 1995, has breathed Granby air in all seasons for nearly 75 years. It goes without saying that this retired art teacher has left her unique mark on the town she calls home.
In early 1997, Johnson’s son Bryan Forsythe died at age 21 following a long illness. “I have had many losses in my life, but the loss of a child is devastating,” she says, noting that grief can land you flat on your back, and those stricken must fight to get back up.
“I did a lot of work on my grief,” she continues, stressing the healing that comes from talking to others who have experienced grief’s wrenching impact. In the months following Bryan’s death, Johnson joined a grief support group for parents who have lost a child. She later hosted an online grief support group, led a group at the Granby Senior Center and read books, essays and poems about grief, its effects and how to assuage it.
“I found things to do that gave me some comfort,” Johnson says. “I’m an artist, and that gave me an outlet for my grief. I find writing prose and poetry healing.” She is working on a book about the loss of a child, a hybrid of her prose and poetry, to help others who find themselves in the throes of grief.
An avid gardener, Johnson was building a small rock garden in her back yard to honor her son when the idea of a larger garden memorializing Granby’s lost children was born.
While selecting and planting flowers for Bryan’s Garden, Johnson realized that she couldn’t be the only parent in Granby who had lost a child and thought, “What if we build a garden somewhere in town to honor all of our children who have died, a peaceful place of solace and celebration of their short lives?” Not one to procrastinate, she rolled up her sleeves and went to work.
Johnson placed an ad in The Yankee Flyer, inviting anyone who had experienced such a loss to meet at her home. About a half dozen men and women showed up, and together they decided that Salmon Brook Park would be the perfect setting for a memorial garden. “People go there to relax, have fun, relieve stress and it’s a wonderful playground for residents of all ages,” Johnson says.
Selectmen liked Johnson’s idea, but they wanted to know what such a garden would look like, so Johnson put her artist’s skills to work, producing a watercolor painting of what she imagined. “I wanted a circle with a boulder in the middle, embedded with a commemorative plaque, a brick walkway on the perimeter and benches to sit on,” she says. “The selectmen liked my vision, and in the summer of 2000, we broke ground just beyond the park’s entrance.”
Community support was key to the garden’s completion. An Our Children’s Garden account was established at Northwest Community Bank, and generous donations, including those of time and expertise, poured in. Teacher and landscaper Bob Kamm designed the plantings’ layout. Al Christiansen delivered rich, composted soil. Imperial Nurseries donated plants. James D’Agata donated the center boulder, and Dennis Purinton delivered and placed the boulder. James Dubois skillfully installed the brick walkway.
While over the years, many residents have donated their time and labor to help keep the garden tended, new volunteers are always appreciated to assist with spring clean-up, planting, weeding and watering. “Just before Memorial Day I like to get the new plants in, and through the growing season, we add annuals as needed to fill in around the perennials,” Johnson says. Hosta, daylilies, butterfly plants, bleeding hearts, peonies and poppies keep the garden alive with color from late spring into fall.
“Granby is a generous, empathetic and caring community,” Johnson says. “When bereaved parents go to the garden and walk the bricks, they see all the names of lost children and feel comfort, knowing they’re not alone. People who have not lost a child come just to sit and enjoy this oasis of serenity.
To volunteer to help maintain Our Children’s Garden, contact Jane Irene Johnson at 860-844-8362 or ubestbuddy@aol.com
To make a donation to the 501C3 Our Children’s Garden Memorial Fund, send a check payable to Our Children’s Garden Memorial Fund, PO Box 32, Granby, CT 06035 or deposit your gift at Northwest Community Bank, 33 Hartford Ave., Granby in the Our Children’s Garden Memorial Fund account.