By Susan Motander
Recently while driving a former resident around town, that resident recalled an incident from her childhood. As she recalls, she was in fourth grade when she was one of the students selected to help the Mr. Brandeis (later Dr. Brandeis) to plant a pine tree on Arbor Day in front of Bradoaks Elementary School, her alma mater.
Driving up to the school showed a huge pine tree just where she remembered helping to plant the tree. Diane Banks and her family moved to Monrovia when she was just in third grade and so was thrilled to be chosen.
“I remember Mr. Brandeis saying he looked forward to seeing the tree grow and become stronger,” she recalled. “He also told all of us, we would someday come back to see that tree grown.”
This week Banks did just that; she went back to see the now mature tree gracing the front of her old elementary school. It was a lesson in remembering the important lessons from childhood: a small tree planted today will, with time, become a significant part of a school and a community.
