Trees represent holiday wishes
PICO BLVD. — In the mausoleum just next to the Library of Living Memories — a holding room for urns — a child wishes his deceased grandfather a happy holiday, a mother wishes her son a Merry Christmas and a brother wishes his sister everlasting peace.
They’re holiday greetings that families and friends have relayed via an ornament to loved ones who have passed away.
About 200 such tree ornaments, filled with messages calling out to the deceased, adorn a pair of six-foot dwarf pine trees, brightening and warming a dead silent and cold mausoleum.
Knowing the holidays can be a particularly difficult time, the Woodlawn Cemetery, which is owned and operated by City Hall, is offering solace to families that have recently suffered a devastating loss in their lives, providing free ornaments they can personalize and hang on the “Trees of Life.”
The two pine trees will stand in the mausoleum through the end of the month, when they will be planted in an undetermined location on the cemetery’s grounds. The ornaments will remain on the trees even after they’re planted for families members to receive.
“It gives [families] the opportunity to share in the joy of Christmas or holidays and still remember loved ones without feeling disrespectful,” said Cemetery Administrator Virgil County on Monday.
Through the ornaments, grown children called out to their deceased parents and a grief-stricken woman reached out to her mother.
“Chad, we love you — Mom and Dad,” one ornament read.
It’s the first time the cemetery has held the Trees of Life program, an idea that County brought with him to Santa Monica when he was For close to 20 years, Thousand Oaks-based Hospice of the Conejo, where County served on the board of directors, has held its own Trees of Life program at the Oaks Shopping Center, inviting people to decorate the tree with a star-shaped ornament of tribute. A second tree sits outdoors at the Gardens of the World in Thousand Oaks, adorned with laminated stars.
Unlike Woodlawn Cemetery, which is situated at the corner of Pico Boulevard and 14th Street, the tradition at the hospice involves a tree-lighting ceremony.
“It’s a healing experience.”
At the end of the month, the stars will come off the trees and be stored at the hospice, waiting to be picked up.
“It’s symbolic,” said Sue Boyce, who sits on the board of directors and is chairwoman of a committee overseeing the Trees of Life. “Putting up a star is like having a picture of the person.”
In Camarillo, a similar tradition has taken place for two decades. Two trees stand in Constitution Park near City Hall for the Camarillo Hospice’s Trees of Life ceremony. But unlike Woodlawn Cemetery and Hospice of the Conejo, these trees are bare.
Camarillo sends a paper star ornament to anyone who makes a donation to the Tree of Life program. The two trees that stand in Constitution Park are lit with each bulb representing a donation.
Hospice officials planned to hang ornaments this year, but were unable to during the tree-lighting ceremony on Dec. 2 because the city was engulfed in 70 mph wind.
“One of the most important things for people who survived a loved one is that their loved one not be forgotten,” said Sandy Nirenberg, executive director of Camarillo Hospice, on Tuesday. “The lights represent a continuing presence of a loved one in their life and in their world.”
“One of the most important things for people who survived a loved one is that their loved one not be forgotten.”
Since the Woodlawn program is in its inception year, County opted to forego a tree-lighting ceremony. It’s a tradition he hopes to adopt beginning next year. The Trees of Life have been popular so far in Woodlawn Cemetery, with even employees participating.
Phyllis Romleski, a cemetery business assistant, put up two ornaments as soon as the trees came out on Dec. 9.
One ornament was for her father, who died in 1990, and the other for her brother-in-law, who recently passed away. Her father’s ornament read, “we love you Dad.”
“It’s a way for me to honor my dad and keep his memory alive,” said Romleski on Monday.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 20, 2006. Read the original PDF.