Irene Bachelder Memorial Bench Fund

Update 1-9-24

Hello wonderful friends and family,

We have exciting news. The Irene Bachelder memorial table at Spring Lake is installed and you can now visit it!! (We will let you know as soon as we know more about the bench and it's location) The table is located in a beautiful clearing surrounded by redwood, oak and bay trees. Click on the link below to see the exact location on Google Maps:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/THvFgAu7E6CzwjTQ8?g_st=ic

Thank you all for your generous support and patience with the table and bench. We hope that you can visit the table at Spring Lake soon.

Love Geoffrey and Family

Irene/Mom/Grandma spent her life being a friend to all she met. She was a source of encouragement and love to her family, especially during the last 2 years after her terminal cancer diagnosis. Throughout her life she found strength and healing energy in the natural world around her. She loved going on walks in the numerous parks in Sonoma County and throughout the Western states, bringing first a digital 35mm and later her trusty iphone to take literally thousands of photographs of Nature. Her favorite local space to visit was QuarryHill (now Sonoma Botanical Garden https://sonomabg.org/) with her husband Tom and other family whenever they visited. It is a beautiful garden that brought her joy and peace during the time of her membership there. 

This fund will be sponsoring the building of a memorial bench at Sonoma Botanical Garden. We invite her very large family and many friends to visit her beloved Garden, to sit and enjoy this special place as we create a legacy for visitors to enjoy for years to come. We will be posting updates of the progress and let you know when it is built so that you can go and visit the Garden and rest on her bench. If the donations exceed the amount required all extra donations will be given to Redwood Adventure Camp https://redwoodadventure.org/ (previously Camp St Michael), a place where Irene and Tom initiated their bond and worked for two years as counselors.

You can see photos of Irene and many friends and family here: https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0W55Z2WMHqN0I and if you have any photos of Irene that you would like to share, you can contact her son Geoffrey (below) and they can be added to the album. This link is of a video of Irene at the gardens enjoying the beauty of the space https://youtu.be/gP6NYA-y7zs?t=2663.

Thank you so much for being a huge part of Irene's life. She was a blessing to all those she served, and felt equally if not more blessed by all she developed deep connections with. We are so happy that we can continue sharing the love and kindness that she freely shared with so many.

- Tom, Chris, Geoff, Matt & Evan

Update 5-16-21

Thank you so very much for your contribution towards the Memorial Bench for Irene Bachelder. We spent a great deal of family time together on outdoor walks and hikes, and have many special memories of walking though Sonoma Botanical Garden enjoying the beauty and diversity of Nature with Irene. We know that visiting her future memorial bench will be very special for us and for the many others that will be able to enjoy using it as well. We will keep you updated with the progress of the bench, and when it is installed we would love for you to visit it yourself. Thank you again for helping us to create this small legacy for Irene, we are so grateful for all the love and support shared with us during this time.

- Tom & Family