Senior builds Columbia Falls garden where people can remember, grieve

Back when Merrick Fairchild was 8 years old, she met a girl named Vivian. The two were battling cancer in the same Seattle hospital.

Fairchild had stage four stage Burkitt lymphoma, an aggressive, but treatable form of cancer of the B cells, where tumors can double in size in just a few hours.

Vivian had brain cancer. She died from the affliction. 

Fairchild found solace in a rooftop flower garden at the hospital to grieve her friend. 

Fairchild’s cancer was found by her dentist. She went in for what they thought was an abscessed tooth. An X-ray found a tumor. In a little more than a day she was in Seattle Children’s Hospital being treated for cancer. That was just under 10 years ago and it took about a year for her to fully recover and enter remission.

She went on to become involved in a host of activities back in Columbia Falls. The senior competed on the speech and debate team. Worked her way through the ranks of Scouting America.

But she never forgot Vivian. Never forgot that garden.

So for her Eagle Scout honors, she decided to build one here in Columbia Falls. The city let her landscape a corner park off Talbott Road not far from Ruder Elementary School.

She first proposed it back in 2022. Broke ground earlier this spring and finished it on March 22, thanks to a host of volunteers and donations and her own hard work.

“I felt it was meaningful to provide a space for the community,” she explained. 

The garden is a walk-in garden, laid out with wheelchair accessible path and bridge and a compass in the center around a maple tree. The idea is people can put bricks in the compass with the names of loved ones, which can be ordered through the city eventually. The compass is surrounded by trees and flower beds, mostly perennials to keep the maintenance requirements down. It is fenced and completely sprinkled. 

The flowers are pollinator friendly and just starting to come up. In a few years, it should be lush.

It has picnic tables to sit on and the trees, which have been there for years, are big enough to provide shade. Despite being close to the road, it is a quiet place to sit and contemplate.

“It feels so good,” Fairchild said. “It’s very relaxing now that I’m done.”

Fairchild will study at the University of Montana. She’s majoring in political science. She is the daughter of Renn and Steven Fairchild.

She said she couldn’t have done it without a ton of help.

“I’d like to thank my project coach, Nick King, and my grandparents, Chris and Joe Anders,” she said. “Mr. King and Papa put in countless hours with planning and construction, and Grandma put in a lot of time with planting, mulching, painting, and rock removal.  I could not have done this project without them and all of their time and dedication.”

The following local businesses/individuals also donated to the effort:

Ryan Holste, Montana Fence; Travis Urbanick, Young Bucks Irrigation; Jason Torrance, Great Northern Borders; Cody Connor, Columbia Nursery; Paul Kirby, LHC; Black Gold Topsoil & Landscaping, Lowe’s, Home Depot, Badger Building Supply, Builder’s First Source, WBC, Hanson’s Hardware, Ace Hardware, Sherwin Williams of Columbia Falls, F.H. Stoltze Lumber, Freedom Bank, Whitefish Credit Union, Glacier Bank, Swank Construction, City of Columbia Falls, Troop 1941 and many Columbia Falls community members.