Vandals Chop Down Tree Planted to Honor Boy

VENTURA — It has been four years since 4-year-old Al Jimenez died of a brain tumor. A fir tree was planted in his memory near the kindergarten at Elmhurst School.

Over the holidays, somebody chopped it down.

“Of all the things to vandalize, why the tree?” asked school Principal Linda DuBois.

Al was enrolled at the school when he died, touching the hearts of the classmates and parents who planted a tiny Douglas fir in his memory. It had grown to 5 feet.

Al’s grandparents would decorate the tree year-round: a heart-shaped garland for Valentine’s Day, cardboard bunnies for Easter, paper flags for the Fourth of July, plastic pumpkins for Halloween and ornaments for Christmas.

Over the Christmas holidays, a vandal took an ax to Al’s tree. Each branch was hacked off before the trunk was chopped down.

Teachers and students didn’t find out about it until they returned to school this week.

“It’s beyond just being a tree, you know,” said Juanita Jimenez, Al’s grandmother. “The last thing we could do for him was take care of the tree.”

Students watered Al’s tree, as they called it, and planted flowers all around. Sometimes, teachers took their classes out to sit near the tree.

Al’s tree even helped ease the fears of a fourth-grade girl who was moving. DuBois said she explained to the little girl that even when you’re gone, you’re not forgotten--just like Al.