Memorial Bricks

In 2015, the Emmy Gaffey ’10 Memorial Garden was dedicated, the culmination of a year of planning and praying. The garden encompassed the pond and surrounding courtyard of Academy Hall. The garden’s namesake, her twin sister Kate ’10, and their mom Kathy had been part of a close-knit circle of girls and moms since elementary school and through the girls’ high school years at the Academy. The heartbreak of losing the fun, lively Emmy in late 2013 prompted this group of friends to seek a way to preserve Emmy’s memory.

The Gaffeys, who gifted the garden to the Academy, envisioned a prayer garden, a place for students to sit with the Lord. As the plans for the garden began to take place, the idea to provide a venue for honoring the lives of other Academy alumni and friends began to take shape, too. With this in mind, engravable bricks were selected for the garden.

A second dedication ceremony was held in the Memorial Garden at Homecoming 2016 as the following six alumni were honored with engraved bricks: Matt Anderson ’11, Beth Blunt ’11, Clayton Bruntjen ’11, Bob Carlson ’57, Virgien Clark ’51, and Chase Froese ’13. The Class of 2011 raised funds for the bricks for their deceased classmates while fellow classmate and forever friend Gib McCartney ’57 sponsored the brick for Bob Carlson. The memorial brick for Virgien Clark was supported by her nephews, and Chase Froese’s tribute was the outreach of friends of the Froese family.