Rebecca Eldemire was killed nine years ago at the age of 21 in her apartment at the University of Miami, but family and friends are continuing her legacy with sustainability projects.
Eldemire was killed in a murder-suicide by her ex-boyfriend, Larry E. Tipton, with whom she broke up the night before. She would have turned 30 this year, so the Betterment Foundation for Environmental & Earth Protection, or BEEPS Foundation, which honors her life, is donating $30,000 to the city of New Albany to create a tree grove near where she grew up. .
Eldemire was a 2012 graduate of New Albany High School.
The trees will be planted at the new Taylor Farm park in New Albany, which recently completed the first phase of construction. That phase opened up a long walking trail, boardwalk and playground. The city expects to plant the trees in the fall.
Adrienne Joly, director of administrative services for New Albany, said the city is planting local tree species selected because they have good fall color. She said the grove of trees will be located in the center of the park and will take up only about 0.1 hectare of the park’s nearly 100 hectares.
A path will wind through the trees with benches to sit on and greet visitors with a plaque with a quote from Eldemire that BEEPS has used in other dedications to him, “Come out anyway and sit down.”
Beeps was Eldemire’s nickname and the reason for the foundation’s name. Marlene Eldemire, Rebecca’s mother, said the family knew they had to do something to continue Eldemire’s passion for environmentalism and quickly came up with the BEEPS Foundation.
Marlene said her daughter dreamed of becoming a veterinarian until high school. One day, Rebecca ran off the bus and told her mom that she didn’t want to be a vet anymore because she could help more animals if she worked in sustainability.
“So from that point on endurance was her middle name,” Marlene said. “She seriously devoted her very short life to it.”
The saying that will be featured in the grove came from one of her high school teacher Sandra Reed’s environmental club lessons, which Marlene credits with introducing Rebecca to sustainability. Almost every month, Reed took the club out to sit down, where students would sit and be at peace with nature.
Reed said the purpose of this practice is to notice the environment around you outside of the human world. She said that when you sit still, everything comes back to basics.
“Becca loved it; she understood it,” said Reed. “She had the patience, the ability to keep calm and observe and the love of nature. Because of this, she got a lot of it. She continued that throughout her life and I think it really enriched her connection with wildlife.”
Reed never lost touch with the family when Rebecca died and started working with BEEPS immediately after hearing about it. She suggested this dedication at Taylor Farm Park to Marlene when she heard she wanted to create something for Rebecca’s 30th birthday.
Marlene said it was perfect because the Eldemire family lived near Taylor Farm Park. Rebecca would go to the wetlands to see wildlife, which Marlene said helped fuel her love of the outdoors. When Marlene heard about the opportunity at the park, she said, “it just seemed like something we had to do.”
“This project with New Albany means the world to us as her family,” Marlene said. “The way it all happened, you almost feel like Becca orchestrated it.”
The foundation has planted two gardens at the University of Miami, where Rebecca majored in geography and geographic information systems. It also funds improvements and donated books and sports equipment to schoolchildren in a village in Tanzania, Rebecca spent a summer volunteering in; sponsors internships at That Guy’s Farm in Clinton County and more.
There was also a bench placed in a prairie garden outside the Easton E3 Learning Lab — where Reed serves as building coordinator — with the same quote used for the grove.
“It’s been a tough nine years,” Marlene said. “I can’t believe it will be 10 years in February, it blows my mind. But the BEEPS Foundation and this project in particular have been so healing for our family.”
@donovanhunt9
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