A group of friends have come together to honour a young man who passed away suddenly by decorating a tree planted in his memory.
This past spring, 19-year-old Ian Green, a university student and a member of the Dartmouth Pipe and Drum band, passed away in his sleep.
“We decided that one of the things that would help the family with the grieving is to fundraise and plant a tree in the garden,” says family friend Barbara Whynot.
The group planted the tree in front of the IWK Health Centre, where Ian’s mother works as a nurse. The location was chosen, in part, so she could see it every day on her way to work.
Ian would have celebrated his 20th birthday this week and his bandmates decided to mark the occasion in a touching way.
“We wanted to do something to celebrate his birthday,” says bandmate Helen Wright. “There was a tree, it was his birthday, so what do you do? Decorate it for Christmas.”
“A great way to honour Ian, to decorate the tree,” says bandmate Angela Ryan.
So, in the middle of the night, members of the band joined together to add a festive touch to the tree. However, they didn’t just use any old Christmas decorations; all the ornaments on the tree represent Ian in some way.
“Most of them are related to candy or sweets,” says bandmate Angela Ryan.
“Ian was a candy freak,” says Wright.
Suckers surround the bottom of the tree, while a dog represents his love of animals. The band’s signature tartan and tenor mallets also adorn the tree.
“Ian played the tenor drum and those represent the sticks that he used to play,” says Ryan.
Ian’s family was delighted to find the tree had been decorated when they visited it Tuesday night, on his birthday.
“When I had Ian, he was born at the IWK and our room overlooked the gardens,” says his mother, Karen. “There was a Christmas tree at the time, which was decorated with the lights.”
Karen and her husband Robert were having a toast on Ian’s birthday when they first heard about the decorated tree.
“We just cheered Ian, we realized it was his birthday, we were talking, it got kind of sad, we shed a few tears,” says Karen. “Then, my daughter was on Facebook, she noticed her phone and she said, ‘Mom, look at this.’”
Karen says the image lit up their day.
“He was born at 12:56, so we were there, around the tree, at the time he would’ve been born. It was beautiful and it changed the tone of the day, of one of sadness and grieving, to one of more of a celebration of him.”
