JRMC hospice to host free memorial, tree-planting ceremony Aug. 11

JRMC Hospice will hold a free memorial and tree-planting ceremony Tuesday, Aug. 11, at 6:30 p.m. in the JRMC Kornovich Healing Gardens at 2422 20th Street SW in Jamestown. A social will begin at 6 p.m., and JRMC says the event is open to anyone in the community.

Families and friends attending the service are encouraged to bring a printed photo of the person they want to honor. JRMC says guests should enter through the main hospital entrance and follow the signs to the gardens. For more information, JRMC Hospice can be reached at (701) 952-4847.

The gathering is built around more than a single night of remembrance. JRMC says it plants a tree each year in memory of loved ones as part of the ceremony, turning the hospital garden into a lasting tribute on campus for families who want a place to return to after the service ends.

Hospice coordinator Maren Radi said the annual memorial is intended to bring people together in grief and memory. “The annual Memorial service and tree planting ceremony is a celebration of life and to affirm the bonds of community, memory and hope that sustain us in sorrow,” Radi said.

That message fits the work JRMC Hospice says it has done since 1995. The program says it works with the Jamestown Area Grief Support Team and offers support groups and programs, including a widow’s retreat, giving the Aug. 11 ceremony a place within a broader network of local grief support.

The memorial has also become a familiar part of JRMC’s campus life over the years. Archived JRMC coverage shows the tree-planting tradition has been held for many years, including one ceremony that featured a maple tree and paper-leaf messages from attendees. For families in Jamestown and the surrounding area, this year’s service offers the same kind of concrete gathering space: a brief social, a shared remembrance and a living tree that will stay behind in the healing gardens.