A.J. Waechter brought a life-long hobby to Christwood when he and his wife Peggy moved into a second-floor apartment shortly after Christwood opened its doors in 1996. He loved to cultivate roses.
“Dad’s roses were a part of my sister’s and my life for as long as I can remember,” said his daughter, Sally McGehee, fondly remembering all the years of fresh cut roses in her childhood home.
Even before moving in, A.J. secured permission to bring his hobby to the newly minted Christwood community. He strategically placed a rose bed so that he could enjoy his flowers from his apartment window. He grew and cared for the roses throughout the last years of his life, continuing to admire his beloved flowers until he passed in 2001.
For two decades, friends of A.J. and Peggy as well as their daughters, Sally McGehee and Susan McClellan, gave their best effort to keep the rose garden flourishing. But a garden such as this requires a true green thumb and a deep passion.
When Barbara and Jim Dodds, native plant enthusiasts in their own right, moved into the very same apartment A.J. had occupied, they couldn’t help but notice the rose garden needed attention. They decided to approach Christwood about revitalizing the garden and so, in 2020, the plan to bring the roses back to life began.
Unbeknownst to the Dodds, Sally was planning to move into Christwood and was looking forward to being involved with the garden that her parents left behind.
“When I arrived at Christwood and learned that the Dodds had taken on Dad’s rose garden I was ecstatic,” recalls Sally. “The stone engraved with ‘A.J.’s Garden’ was discovered buried beneath the dirt after 23 years!”
So Barbara, Sally, and Susan teamed up with the Christwood Foundation to start the Rose Garden Fund to ensure that A.J.’s legacy will live on.
“We are touched by this tribute to A.J. and excited to have this fund in place to help ensure his beloved rose garden will continue to bloom well into the future,” said Amy Pinac-Wimberley, Executive Director of the Christwood Foundation. “Legacy is so important to Christwood. We are honored to have a role in preserving a part of the community’s original story as we enter our next 25 years.”