Butterfly garden
fulfills woman’s last wish
September
25, 2006
By BOBBY HARRELL
Index-Journal staff writer
Tina Jacobs, Robin Strom’s
sister, left, takes a photo of Cory Bradley, Robin’s brother, and Hailea,
Robin’s grand-niece, sitting on the butterfly bench Sunday afternoon at the
Ninety Six Elementary School Butterfly Garden. The garden was dedicated to
Robin, along with husband James and their children Brittney and Bradley, died in
a plane crash January 2005.
NINETY SIX
— One of Robin Strom’s last wishes was to see her idea for a butterfly garden at
Ninety Six Elementary School come to life.
The elementary science teacher had talked before with principal Jane Calhoun
about the garden, but had never had a chance to see her idea bloom into being.
Robin, along with husband James and their children Brittney, 15, and Bradley,
11, died in a plane crash Jan. 7, 2005 near Highway S.C. 10 in Bradley.
Robin’s friends and family gathered Sunday afternoon to help dedicate the Ninety
Six Elementary School Butterfly Garden to the children of Ninety Six and to
Robin, who cared deeply for the children, Calhoun said.
Loretta Bradley, Robin’s mother, said that her daughter loved Ninety Six
Elementary and would have been glad to see the garden’s creation.
“If she’s able to look down, she’s smiling,” Loretta said.
As tears slid down her cheeks, Loretta said she missed her daughter every day.
Robin had told Calhoun that she wanted to create the butterfly garden to give
students a chance to study the intricacies of wildlife science and provide them
with a calm place to let them meditate and collect their thoughts.
The garden features a stone path leading to a ring of plants around a steel
bench shaped like a butterfly.
Superintendent Dan Powell said that Robin’s death touched the lives of everyone
she came into contact with.
The deaths of the Stroms also deeply affected people in the area.
A small monument to the Stroms was erected April 26, 2005 in front of Ninety Six
Primary School.
A small park was also dedicated in downtown McCormick to the memory of James
Strom on April 6, 2005.
James was a McCormick businessman with many ties to McCormick, The Index-Journal
previously reported.
Powell said that the Stroms were a good family that enriched the lives of many
in their passing.
He paraphrased Robert Lewis Stevenson by saying that a person’s life can be
counted as a success if they leave the world a better place than when they
entered it.
Calhoun said that many people wished Robin was still with them.
“She was so much to so many,” Calhoun said.
Butterflies are an appropriate symbol of Robin’s rebirth in another world.
They are often associated with signs from passed loved ones that they are at
peace, Calhoun said.
The garden has recently been populated by butterflies and hummingbirds, she
said.
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