43
Tree planted in honor of former student
Photo
Neighbors | Alexis Bartolomucci.Second-grade students, family members, friends and teachers gathered at Austintown Elementary School to participate in a Tree Dedication Ceremony for former student, Chloe Cox, on April 29.
Photo
Neighbors | Alexis Bartolomucci.The second-grade students who attended the Tree Dedication Ceremony on April 29 at Austintown Elementary School stood as the ceremony came to an end.
Photo
Neighbors | Alexis Bartolomucci.Tom Lenton, second-grade principal at Austintown Elementary, stood in front of the tree dedicated to former student, Chloe Cox, on April 29 to speak to the attending guests.
Photo
Neighbors | Alexis Bartolomucci.Employees of Elliot's Garden Center helped plant the tree in the yard of Austintown Elementary School for former student, Chloe Cox, on April 29.
By ALEXIS BARTOLOMUCCI
Austintown Elementary School hosted a Tree Dedication Ceremony on April 29 for former student, Chloe Cox, who passed away in 2014.
Cox was a lifelong resident of Austintown and attended Lloyd Elementary School, Frank Ohl Intermediate and Austintown Middle School.
Family members, staff and second-grade students from Austintown Elementary gathered together to participate in the tree dedication. Second-grade principal, Tom Lenton, began the ceremony with a speech about Cox and introductions for the teachers and other members of Austintown who have been impacted by Cox.
“The joy that she brought to my life and in the classrooms and in the teachers lives will never, ever, ever be forgotten,” said Danielle Bendel, an Educational Assistant, and one of Cox’s first aides, at Austintown.
Cox’s teachers and family stepped to the podium to talk about all of the memories and the impact Cox had left. The guests and even the second-grade students who attended the ceremony were brought to tears at the heartwarming stories they heard about Cox.
“When Chloe passed, I had never seen so much love for a tiny, little girl. I didn’t even realize how many lives she touched,” said Jeannie Cox, Chloe’s mother.
The guests went outside to watch the tree planting in honor of Cox. The tree was representative of the life that Cox had in her and the life that she wanted to share with others.
“My hope is that boys and girls as they continue to come to Austintown Elementary School, for some reason they’ll see this tree and they’ll want to be better people and they’ll want to bring out the best in people. That’s the spirit of Chloe and that’s what I hope this tree inspires in everybody,” said Lenton.