-
Members of the Gilmer High School band, chorus and drama classes clear grass and help level the ground for a pathway into the garden at Ellijay Elementary School that is being refurbished in memory of Noah West. (Photos by Robbie Bills)
When Noah West unexpectedly passed away Oct. 11, he left behind grieving family and friends among fellow Boy Scouts in Troop 440 and classmates at Gilmer High School. The 17-year-old had already accomplished many goals in his scholastic and extracurricular career, but one objective remained uncompleted — his Eagle Scout project of refurbishing a garden at Ellijay Elementary School.
Last Sunday, great strides were made in finishing the project, and those who miss Noah showed up by the dozens to pitch in and help.
“Noah’s Eagle Scout badge required a project,” noted the scoutmaster of Troop 440, Cassie Stover. “His was a beautification project to refurbish one of the gardens at the school. We are actually expanding on his original plan — doing the whole area around it — and it’s going to be a memorial garden for him.”
Last Sunday morning, Scouts from troops in Chatsworth, Blue Ridge, Canton and Big Canoe arrived on-site, and worked alongside Scouts in other Ellijay troops and members of the Gilmer High School band, chorus and drama classes. Parents pitched in to help as well, and multiple businesses made donations of materials and funds to help move the project along.
“A lot of people in the community are digging up hostas (to donate) from their own personal gardens, and lilies,” Stover said. “Pressure washing the building is another part of it, to get the mildew stains off. We will be putting a plaque in for the memorial garden. We’re going to do what we can before the freeze sets in, and according to the time line that Noah was trying to do it in. We’ll have to go back in the spring and fill in the gaps since it’s going to freeze soon.”
The project had some obstacles.
“There were a couple of very big, well-rooted, established stumps that had to be pulled out,” added Stover. “The kids from Chatsworth worked on that for a couple of hours.”
Other work involved removing grass, adding topsoil and putting in plants in a design that will showcase purple and white tulips next spring. As well, roses, azaleas and a bench have been donated.
At the end of the initial phase of the project, Noah’s parents Ben and Donna West were presented with a Spirit of the Eagle certificate in memory of their son. The Spirit of the Eagle is a Boy Scouts of America national award that is an “honorary posthumous special recognition for a youth member under the age of 21 who has lost their life in an accident or through illness. The intention of the award is to help heal and comfort the youth member’s family, loved ones and friends with their loss,” according to the BSA.
Stover said, “good community spirit” was on display, and she called the day “very fulfilling.”
“Donna is actually a kindergarten teacher at the school, and she was just overwhelmed with gratitude and said she planned to have some story times out in the garden with her kindergarteners,” she said. “They got in there and helped too.”
The garden still needs some work. Extra mulch was placed Monday, and another workday is planned to put out the marble and stone for the rain bed.
“It will be an ongoing project to make sure it turns out good,” said Stover. “It was Noah’s plan to get it done in this time frame, and we wanted to go ahead and do that and honor him now. The Scouts, band members, chorus and drama kids who knew Noah were able to get a sense that they did something worthwhile. Whenever something tragic like this happens, you can say a lot about it, but we were actually able to do something and honor him for years to come. I think everybody felt that.”