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Jonathan Law Principal Fran Thompson stood near Maren’s Memory Garden Wednesday afternoon and told students that six months ago, just after Maren Sanchez was killed, he talked to them and told them that he couldn’t understand why her life had ended at such a young age.
“I’m still not able to make sense of it,” Thompson said as he began a ceremony to dedicate the new garden in Maren’s name.
But he told the students gathered for the ceremony that he knows that out of the tragedy grew true compassion.
In the days following the April 25 stabbing at Law, purple ribbons sprung up around Milford, on businesses and in public areas; vigils were held, and in recent months, the city signed a Charter for Compassion in Maren’s honor, meaning it pledged to promote goodness and compassion.
On Wednesday, the garden created by community donations and filled with purple flowers — purple was Maren’s favorite color — drew people together to remember her.
Two benches sit atop a stone-covered piece of ground just outside a back door of Jonathan Law High School. The benches, with plates that say “Maren Forever in our hearts,” sit in the midst of seasonal plantings. A stained glass piece of art shaped like a heart and backed by a pair of golden wings projects from a corner of the school, overlooking the garden, and purple wind chimes hang from the artwork.
The garden, with its various pieces, is like Maren in a way, Thompson said: The different pieces come together to create something beautiful, as Maren’s diverse interests came together to embody who she was.
Maren was stabbed to death at school April 25 on what would have been her prom day. Fellow student Christopher Plaskon has been charged with her murder, and sources have said that Plaskon killed Maren because she was not going to the prom with him.
Friends and fellow students wore purple in Maren’s honor for the garden
dedication Wednesday; Maren’s friend Rachel Escobar sang “We live, we love ... today we remember to live and to love” as the wind chimes chimed in the background.
After the dedication and reception, the Law/Foran Girls Volleyball match-up, dedicated to Maren, began inside the school.