Published September 28. 2023 11:36AM
By CLAIRE KUKIELKA
Special to The Press
Parkland Garden Club had its Memorial Planting Celebration Sept. 1 at Lehigh Valley Zoo.
This activity has occurred since 1980 when former PGC president, Bernadette Marushak, began this cause.
Viola Tackacs, another former member, was heavily involved in this community project.
Since 1980 the PGC and its members have donated more than 350 trees, plants, and shrubs to the zoo in memory of friends and loved ones.
The program recognizes the importance of conservation and nature, and commemorates bonds of family and friends by dedicating new life to a local treasure, the Lehigh Valley Zoo.
PRESS PHOTOS COURTESY PGC Deb Barhight, conservation chairwoman and coordinator for the Lehigh Valley Zoo program and Scott Fenstermaker, groundskeeper for the zoo, prepare to dig a hole to plant a coneflower in the Medicine Wheel in honor of Beth Waldron, sister of former Parkland Garden Club President Brenda Aubert.
Mary Stanley digs a hole for the Elijah Blue Fescue grass her family donated in honor of her late brother, Daniel E. Cressman. The plant is located at the Madagascar exhibit at the Lehigh Valley Zoo.
Marsha and Naser Chowdhury wait to see the plants they donated in honor of Naser's late father, Kamal Chowdhury, and Marsha's late mother, Marie Renee Gregory.
Parkland Garden Club members participating at the Sept. 1 event at the Lehigh Valley Zoo gather in front of a variety of flowers and trees.
