Just in time for spring, the Mary Baumer Memorial Garden in front of the school is getting some much needed love.

Baumer, a beloved secretary, passed away in 2009 after battling cancer. The class of 2010 donated the garden as part of their senior gift. In recent years, it had fallen into disrepair until a few teachers decided to start cleaning up, led by Dave Voss, social studies teacher, and Carlye Hamilton, Spanish teacher, as well as Courtney May, English teacher.

“The garden was planted in honor of Mary Baumer, who was our secretary in the office for a very long time,” Voss said. “She was a very special person in our building. One of the people who knew everyone, everyone knew her. Everyone loved her. She did anything that you might need. She was one of the very special people that made Lake Zurich what it was.”

Hamilton echoed the sentiment, and explained what the garden meant to her personally.

“[The garden] represents my friend, who I miss,” Hamilton said. “It represents the bond that we share here at the high school. Our faculty has a strong bond. We’re like a big family.”

Voss and Hamilton and May have been at the head of an after school restoration effort for the garden. Other teachers have been pitching in to help out, either through donations or volunteering time, Voss said.

“We are focusing on cleaning it up and getting all the weeds out of the garden,” Voss said. “A lot of the plants that have been planted in the past were not growing as they were supposed to. We’ve been weeding it out and planting plants provided by different teachers.”

There is still more work to be done on the garden, and Hamilton says they would appreciate student aid if anyone offered to pitch in.

“As we were gardening, we had a handful of students offer to help, which was pretty nice,” she said. “There used to be a class that helped with the gardening. They could contact any teacher in the springtime.”

Voss and Hamilton say they hope in the future the garden will be well cared-for in their friend’s memory.