Longtime Upper Macungie Township resident and East Penn School District teacher Thomas Roeder died Nov. 17, 2013.

Following a memorial service June 15, at Ziegels UCC, Breinigsville, to celebrate the life of Roeder, family and friends gathered in the backyard garden of his and wife, Ruth's, property.

Pastor Candi Cain-Borgman offered a blessing for the garden, and Thomas Roeder's brother, Al, placed a stone in the garden in memory of Roeder.

Several of Roeder's poems, composed in the '50s, were printed in the memorial service bulletin.

The garden blessing honored Roeder's devotion to the printed word, whether by his own hand or by others.

The site of the memorial garden is a serene spot surrounded by giant trees.

In May, staff from the Edge of the Woods Native Plant Nursery planted three understory trees and several native perennials and arranged the placement of Blue Mountain rocks to initiate the special garden.

At the blessing, family members added a stone bench, a pink astilbe and impatiens to beautify the site.

Teaching friends donated posts to mark the garden entrance and a pathway of autumn leaves lines the perimeter of the garden. The backdrop of the garden contains bleeding hearts and ferns donated by a neighbor.

Roeder's wife planted wild ginger, Jacob's Ladder, Lenten roses and a white astilbe to complete the peaceful serenity of the special place.

The Roeders built their home in 1967 in the middle of a wildly wooded wilderness. The property was designated a National Wildlife Backyard Habitat in 1973. To tame the wildness, Ruth Roeder began working with the Edge of the Woods Native Plant Nursery in 2007 to make the property more attractive to not only to common birds, squirrels and chipmunks but also to butterflies and hummingbirds.

Tom Roeder wore many hats in his lifetime, but his favorite was being the owner of a fantastic wooded property he called home.