School remembers young student who died

HE WON'T BE FORGOTTEN -Donors wrapped the Bo Wagner Memorial Bench in ribbon and dedicated it recently at Brookside Elementary School in Oak Park.

Brookside Elementary recently hosted a unique assembly as the Oak Park school dedicated a tree and a special bench to Robert "Bo" Wagner, a first-grader who courageously fought but lost his battle with a brain tumor last year.

The midnight blue bench was donated by the Thompson family whose daughter, Jessica, was a classmate of Bo’s. A brass plaque on the bench reads, "Given in memory of Robert "Bo" Wagner, courageous friend, 2003."

Just 10 feet from the bench, on a grassy area inside the quad, sits a young camphor tree, donated by Valley Crest Trees and planted in Bo’s memory. Both the bench and tree were adorned with white satin bows. The young tree looked like a child next to three very large and mature trees on the same lawn, symbolizing a life that was cut short before blooming into great height and possibility.

"Bo was an amazing child who was a first-grader last year," said Deborah King, a counselor at Brookside. "In the spirit of Bo’s generosity, this bench and tree is given for Bo."

5-year-old Lauren Bay gathers with friends during a solemn ceremony to remember their first-grade friend who died last year from a brain tumor.

Sandy Hirano, a first-grade teacher at Brookside, spoke about the little boy she grew to love while he was a student in her class last year.

He wrote this poem while sitting on the hill that now bears the tree planted in his honor:

"I am sitting on green grass,

I see blue monkey bars.

I hear noisy birds.

I feel the wind.

Brookside is good."

Brookside’s third-graders ended the assembly by inviting everyone to join them in singing Bo’s favorite song, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."

––Lori Porter