Girion considered an environmental pioneer, planted ficus in Downtown
STEWART STREET PARK It was a ceremony befitting a little-known local environmental pioneer who never made a big to do about her work in the community, a commemoration that was low-key and no frills.
In one row — smiles across faces and shovels in hand — stood the five Girion boys, preparing to toss a piece of dirt into the earth in symbolic tree-planting fashion, a homage to their late beloved mother and Santa Monica resident, Jacqueline Girion.
Her name was one that remained somewhat unknown until nearly a decade after her death, uncovered during a Landmarks Commission meeting last December by a group of activists called the Santa Monica Treesavers, arguing that a series of ficus trees in the downtown area deserved to be pardoned, worthy of historic designation.
Most notable in their reasons as to why the shady specimens — which had caused a firestorm over their slated removal — deserved landmark status was their association to the elder Girion,who four decades ear-lier had spawned them in a tree-planting campaign.
While the commission would ultimately deny the Treesavers’ request, Girion’s new-found legacy lingered.
On Monday, a 15-foot variegated ficus tree found a new home at Stewart Street Park in Girion’s honor, a ceremony held by the Public Landscaping Division at City Hall in conjunction with the Rosie’s Girls program, which caps the end of each session with a planting. The day camp program is designed to instill leadership skills and build self-esteem in adolescent girls entering the middle-school years, teaching them trades such as carpentry and welding.
Walt Warriner, the community forester who helped organize the dedication, said it only made sense that the program be involved in recognizing Girion, who embodied the teachings of Rosie’s Girls.
“Before Rosie’s Girls, there was a concept that women like Jackie were just doing it,” Warriner said.
A life-long environmentalist, Girion was raised in Oklahoma and attended the University of California, Santa Barbara where she had a life-affirming experience while standing ashore, her feet covered in oil, watching in horror at animals who were equally drenched, the victims of an oil spill.
She moved to Santa Monica in 1948, raising five sons — Woody, Roger, Gilbert, Shephard and Allen — with husband Lewis, who was an electrical engineer for Hughes Aircraft.
The Ocean Park resident seemingly had her hand in all aspects of the community, serving on city committees, raising money for the March of Dimes Foundation, and volunteering with the Santa Monica school district, driving students with disabilities to class. In her years of community service, Girion never ran for public office, simply rejecting offers because she had five sons to worry about at home.
Instead she worked on friends’ campaigns, including Clo Hoover’s run for the City Council in the early 1960s. Hoover would become the first woman mayor of Santa Monica.
“As kids, we were always involved in her projects,” Roger Girion, the second eldest son and doctor, said. “My mom was the mom of the neighborhood.”
Aside from the stints as the PTA president of John Muir Elementary and her fight against off-shore oil drilling at Santa Monica beaches, Girion will perhaps be most known for her work in planting roughly 60 ficus trees in Downtown. Girion has been called a pioneer of the local environmental and women’s rights movements.
Girion in 1961 was appointed to the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce’s beautification committee, which recommended a plan that included new trees for Second and Fourth streets. One year later, she received the Golden Shovel Award by the council and chamber, a small plaque that her sons brought with them to the dedication on Monday.
“This is great because mom did so much for the community,” Gilbert Girion, now a playwright, said of the ceremony.“It’s surprising to see all this resurface after 46 years.”
Jacqueline Girion died in 1998 at the age of 72. Her sons have since spread out across the state and country. Two of them — Shephard and Woody — spoke in favor of preserving the trees at previous City Council and Landmarks Commission meetings. All sons said they opposed the removal but understood the circumstances that led to the plan.
The removal of the ficus trees, part of a Downtown beautification project, caused an uproar among many Santa Monica residents. The issue was even challenged by the Treesavers in court, though their bid was rejected earlier this year. About 23 trees deemed as structurally unsound were removed in May and another seven are slated for relocation.
“I feel very sympathetic to those people who protested it,” Allen Girion said. “But simultaneously, it’s nice to be able to honor our mother.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 22, 2008. Read the original PDF.