Ashburnham Girl Scouts devastated memorial for friend will be removed
ASHBURNHAM - There were hurt feelings and hard decisions during Ashburnham's Select Board meeting Monday. The town's Girl Scouts, devastated, that a memorial for their friend must finally come down.
"I think all of this could have been avoided if you had reached out to us for some open communication ahead of time," troop leader Michelle Duclos said.
Daisy Scout Kate Arpano passed away from an aggressive brain cancer in 2016.
An art installation in her honor was approved by town leaders for six months. There was an autumn vote to extend the installation until spring 2017. Then came new Ashburnham leadership and a pandemic.
"Unfortunately, it's our fault. We're going to own it. We've had two, three town administrators since then and multiple select boards. Nobody followed through," Rosemarie Eldridge-Meissner said. She was not in leadership at that time.
But it isn't just the memorial itself, and these friends' little fingerprints. This place holds memories of Kate, for the people who love her.
The girls of our community put their heart and soul into that. It's still art. This is where people feel comfort. A nice spot at that playground where people can sit and eat their ice cream and listen to those concerts," Kate's mother Abby said, emotionally.
There are plans in motion for a new Winchester Park, which will include tribute trees and benches. A rainbow "Buddy Bench" with Kate's photo honors her memory at her elementary school. The town has offered to place a plaque at a flower garden the troop planted last year.
"There's never going to be a good time to take this down. Even if there was a date set back in 2016/2017, it would've been traumatic. It was a traumatic thing that happened and there's nobody here who thinks otherwise," said Bill Johnson with the select board.
The town says the existing memorial would set an unfair precedent for other neighbors who suffer loss in the future. Other troop leaders expressed wishes for this structure to be grandfathered in under a new policy, but town leaders said it's time to enforce the vote from five years ago.
"We think we created something really beautiful," Michelle Duclos added.
Kate's family will be notified before the memorial is physically removed, and they will be offered any pieces from the structure.