Published on October 18, 2018
Memorial Brick Tradition Started with Alive Employee / Patient
If you have been to Alive’s Nashville office, you may have noticed a small cat waiting alongside a brick walkway that winds through a garden at the side entrance of the building. This is the Lynn Meade Thompson Memorial Garden, planted in 1995 in memory of an Alive clinical director and social worker who also became a patient after contracting cancer in her early 50s. Lynn was an avid gardener (and cat lover) who was adored by her colleagues, as evidenced by the lasting memorial they created for her.
The brick pathway in Lynn’s garden became the foundation for Alive’s Memorial Brick Walkway, which now helps families remember their loved ones. Twice a year, Alive hosts a “Blessing of the Bricks” ceremony in which the newly laid memorial bricks are presented during a memorial service led by Alive chaplains and grief counselors.
This lovely garden is being updated thanks to the generosity of landscaping firm Colorburst, which has designed a new layout and donated plants. A volunteer team from HCA did the initial planting on September 27. We can’t wait to see the garden bloom again next spring in honor of Lynn Thompson. Photos to come then!