Pine Run Retirement Community plants garden commemorating U.S. veterans

Pine Run Retirement Community marked Veterans Day earlier this month by dedicating a Never Forget Garden, part of a nationwide initiative to plant gardens and place specially-made markers to recognize, remember and honor U.S. veterans.
The Never Forget Garden was started by Pine Run resident and veteran Thomas J. Barnett. He served as a guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from 1953 to 1954 and is a life member of the tomb’s Society of the Honor Guard, which first proposed the nationwide Never Forget Garden project.
Planning for Pine Run’s Never Forget Garden began in May 2019 and carried on throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Barnett headed a project committee that included Pine Run staff members and residents.

Several people donated their talents to the project, including Pine Run resident Derek Sutphin, a retired landscape architect who volunteered to design the garden, and Marc Stine, Pine Run’s Grounds Supervisor, who installed the plantings.
Pine Run’s Never Forget Garden expanded on an existing veterans’ memorial garden at the retirement community in Doylestown Township. In summer 2020, seven river birch trees were planted to form the perimeter of the garden. In fall 2020 and spring 2021, perennials were planted.
“This garden is not just for veterans. It’s a place of memories. Anyone can visit the garden and think of someone they might have lost,” Barnett said. “When they remember them, that keeps their memory alive. The person isn’t really dead because they are still being remembered.”

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