(originally published in ThisWeekNews)
Wednesday December 17, 2014 3:37 PM
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| Tom, Kathy and Reilly Harrington look at the floragraph of their daughter and sister, Lindsay Jones (photo from ThisWeekNews) |
To honor the late Lindsay Alyce Jones, her family invited students and staff to help decorate her floragraph, which will be displayed on the 2015 Donate Life Tournament of Roses Parade float.
Floragraphs are memorial portraits created with floral materials. They are recreations of a favorite photo submitted by family members.
Jones attended Dublin Scioto High School until she died from a brain aneurysm 10 days into her senior year in September 2002.
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| The floragraph of Lindsay Jones (photo from ThisWeek News) |
The event took place in Scioto’s cafeteria at 12:15 p.m. Dec. 12, during lunch, so students and staff could have an opportunity to view the completion of the floragraph.
Upon unveiling Jones’ floragraph, the family had the privilege of finishing the portrait by completing the decoration of Jones’ eyebrows.
The image of Jones was printed, applied to foam board and decorated in a method similar to “color by numbers” with flowers and organic materials, including seeds, grains and spices.
Bob Scott, Scioto’s interim principal, said he was honored to have the event at Scioto.
“This building loved Lindsay and the Jones family and to host this event for them and for Lindsay is the least we can do,” Scott said in an e-mail.
Jones’ family will travel to Pasadena in late December to attend the 126th Tournament of Roses Parade Jan 1.
Jones is the first person from Dublin to be honored in this manner during the parade.
“To have a program at school promoting being an organ donor and the impact it can have on others is clearly something we need to support and celebrate,” Scott said.
Scott said Jones will forever be a hero.
The decorating of Jones’ floragraph began in Pasadena by volunteer transplant recipients and donor family members under the direction of experienced float artists.
Jessica Petersen, media and public relations coordinator for Lifeline of Ohio, said it was a sweet moment to see the floragraph come to life.
“Kathy Harrington, Lindsay’s mom, was very anxious before it was unveiled. It looked so beautiful and lifelike. It was heart-melting,” Petersen said.
“Kathy has been volunteering at Lifeline of Ohio for 11 years. Her passion for organ donation has now led her to Pasadena.”
The 12th Donate Life Rose Parade float — with the theme “The Never-Ending Story” — will symbolize the enduring power of organ, eye and tissue donation and transplantation.
Jones’ floragraph will be one of 72 on the float.
The float will feature 60 butterflies emerging from an open book, representing the number of lives transformed by a single donor.
Walking alongside the float will be 12 living organ donors whose stories have become intertwined with those of their recipients.
The overall theme of the parade, which will be seen by an estimated 80 million TV viewers, is “Inspiring Stories.”
Since its debut on New Year’s Day 2004, the Donate Life Rose Parade float has become the world’s most visible campaign to inspire people to become organ, eye and tissue donors.
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Deb’s Details:
This event was covered by some of the bigger news outlets in Columbus and I read their coverage of it before writing mine. That gave me perspective on how I could make mine stand out from their articles. I did this by interviewing Bob Scott and Jessica Petersen. I’m an organ donor myself so it was neat to see how that little heart on my license really can mean a lot.
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| My article on the front page 😀 |
Debbie Gillum Wakefield 