Maureen Hansma Memorial Garden

This GoFundMe account has been set up to raise the funds necessary to set up a memorial garden for Mrs. Hansma, who was a teacher and a principal at St. Lawrence Catholic School in Tampa for 34 years.  Mrs. Hansma was very loved by the students and the faculty of St. Lawrence.  She was a very kind and caring individual.  She met her husband while working in Japan for the Department of Defense.  He was a widower with three kids and she helped him raise his children as if they were her own.  After retiring from St. Lawrence, she was once asked to come out of retirement by Monsignor Higgins to once again be the principal of the school until he could find a replacement for her.  She didn't hesitate and was always answering the call to help, so she returned as interim principal for some time.  She was dedicated to the St. Lawrence community and was very involved as a minister of the Eucharist and always answered the call to help.

My son, Daniel Montero, is a boy scout with Troop 329 at St. Lawrence Catholic Church.  He has been a boy scout since he joined the cub scouts as a tiger scout in 1st grade.  He worked his way through the ranks, achieving the Arrow of Light award, the highest award in cub scouting.  He then crossed over into boy scouting and has worked his way to the rank of life scout.  He is now trying to earn his eagle rank and he is working in conjunction with a few of the faculty from St. Lawrence Catholic School on this his eagle project.  Daniel is an alumni of St. Lawrence Catholic School and is very excited that this project will help the school that he attended.  Mrs. Hansma was interim principal of the school when Daniel first attended St. Lawrence.  Daniel is trying to finish his journey in scouting and earn his eagle rank which is only earned by 4% of boys who start scouting.

This memorial garden will be located next to the St. Lawrence Catholic School gym.  We are trying to create a space that present and future students can use for quiet meditation, study, prayer, and reading.  The garden will include stones for the ground cover and large flower pots, which will contain Mrs. Hansma's favorite flower, the pansy.  The garden would also include a couple of stone mosaic benches for the kids to sit on. The garden will also have a bronze plaque engraved with a tribute to Mrs. Hansma on display. We would like to have this project completed by the weekend of November 18th and 19th as the first anniversary of her death will fall in November this year.  We would like to officially open the garden beginning with a dedication ceremony on November 25th as we are very thankful for Mrs. Hansma's service to St. Lawrence Catholic School and community.