by Kristina Gabalski
The life of little Zoe Alexis Vargo may have been short, but it touched the lives of many in the Churchville and Spencerport communities and will be memorialized with a special garden at the Churchville Elementary School.
A dedication for the Zoe Alexis Vargo Memorial Garden is set for noon on Saturday, May 12, says Andy Vargo, Zoe’s dad. Zoe was born at Strong Memorial Hospital on April 15, 2011 and lived for five hours before succumbing to a very rare heart condition called Trisomy 18.
“It was a blessing from God that we had that much time,” Andy says. Doctors told him and his wife, Pam, that their daughter probably wouldn’t live long enough to be born when the condition was discovered five months into Pam’s pregnancy.
“It was a miracle that she was born,” Andy says.
Andy, who has served with the Churchville Fire Department for more than 20 years currently as 2nd Deputy Chief, said the five hours his family had with Zoe were “incredible.” He says Pam struggled with sickness throughout the pregnancy and that it was also a challenge for him. “It’s my nature to help, but there was nothing you could do,” he says. But the time with Zoe was “worth everything,” he says.
Zoe was 5 lbs., 12 oz. at birth and perfect in every way other than her heart ailment. Andy says that the hospital was wonderful and that people from the Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep Foundation took photographs of the time the family had together at no cost.
Andy and Pam wanted to memorialize Zoe and decided to approach the school about a memorial to be located between the school building and the playground.
Andy attended Churchville Elementary as did his son and Pam’s daughter (this is the second marriage for both). Pam is now 6 1/2 months pregnant with the couple’s second child, a boy, Andy says.
A shot of the memorial looking east gives a sense of the “heart shape.” Zoe’s dad, Andy, says the shape was not planned. It just ended up being this way when they finished cutting the stone. Photo by Kristina Gabalski.The memorial is constructed of stone pavers and also includes a pathway from the school building. Two benches donated by Zoe’s grandparents, Ted and Doris Vargo, offer comfortable seating and a stone sitting wall forms a soft “S” curve (for the C-C Saints) along the far side. The pavers are edged around the rim of the garden with mulch and flowers are planted on the east side of the sitting wall. A purple beech tree planted just to the south of the memorial will someday provide shade and serves as a specimen planting.
The memorial garden, “turned out larger than we planned,” Andy explains. Initially, it was supposed to be a circle with pavers, a bench and a tree, but then it was decided to add the sitting wall at one end.
“They were messing with the wall while I was gone,” Andy says. When he saw the finished garden, Andy was stunned. With the “S” curve at the far end, the final shape of the memorial turned out to be a heart.
“That’s the wild part,” Andy says. “It was totally unintended … we didn’t see it until we made the cuts.”
Churchville-Chili Central School District Director of Operations and Maintenance Steve Hamil says the district “couldn’t be happier with the results. We worked closely with Andy and the Board of Education to get it passed. We wanted something functional that everybody could enjoy and that looked classy.”
Hamil notes that Ken Tanner, the district’s head groundsman, was also involved in the design and layout of the garden.
Churchville Elementary Principal Dave Johnson says the district was pleased to work with Andy on the memorial. “It looks beautiful,” he says and adds that students are already enjoying it.
Johnson also recognizes that Andy feels the teachers he had while a student at Churchville Elementary had a profound impact on his life. “It becomes clear when you are talking to Andy how much his teachers meant to him,” Johnson says. Johnson says the garden not only memorializes Zoe, but also is a way for Andy to thank his former teachers.
“We are a small town and a small school and we look out for each other,” Johnson says. Andy’s recognition, “means a lot to the teachers.”
Many in the community became involved in the project, Andy explains. “We are grateful to the school district for allowing us to do it,” Andy says and adds that the Village of Churchville has been “awesome.”
Members of the Churchville Fire Department and Spencerport Volunteer Firemen’s Association and Churchville Fire Equipment helped out as well as friends of the family and several local businesses donated materials, base stone, pavers, bricks, labor, excavating, machinery and hardscapes.
A stone honoring Zoe has been placed in the middle of the memorial and Andy says other pavers can be engraved in the future for those who would like to add names to the memorial. There is also room for two additional benches. Anyone interested “will have to go through the school district,” he says.
The dedication ceremony on May 12 – which falls on Mother’s Day weekend – is open to all, Andy says. “Anyone in the community is welcome to come.”
Village of Churchville, Town of Riga and school district officials will also be in attendance.
“I am very excited about the twelfth,” Andy says. Refreshments will be served at the fire hall afterwards.
Andy notes that Zoe would have gone to Churchville Elementary and that her little brother will one day attend the school and play on the playground next to his sister’s memorial.
“That makes it special,” he says.
