FAIRVIEW TWP — Her tiny body wracked with sobs, Lori Kuhns sprinkled a trail of powdery dust around a flat sandstone engraved with the words that break her heart: “In memory of Shyann Smith.”

“I want to spread some of my daughter’s ashes here so she is here with her friends, and they can come and feel close to her,” Kuhns whispered.

About 30 people on Oct. 22 attended the stone dedication in memory of Shyann, the Karns City Junior-Senior High School 10th grader who died in July 2009 at age 14.

Shyann’s stone is one of about 25 in the high school’s half-acre student memorial garden, which is tucked behind the football field near a secluded pond that borders the school’s nature center.

The hillside at the nature trail’s entrance contains both student and staff memorial gardens, where randomly placed sandstone memorials seem to emerge from the carefully mulched garden.

Kurt Crosbie, a seventh grade science teacher at the high school, said the concept for the half-acre garden came about 15 years ago, when several deaths occurred in the district.

“We were in the process of expanding the nature center, and we thought this would make a nice addition,” Crosbie said.

He said Stony Hollow Nursery in Worthington, Armstrong County, designed the gardens and donated most of the trees and shrubs there. Steckman Memorials donates the inscription for each stone, and provides the stones at cost.

He said the family of 18-year-old Jamie Dickson, who died in June 1998 when a tree collapsed on him, also donates toward the garden and helps with any work required there.

“This whole nature center and memorial garden has been completed independent of taxpayer money through donations and a lot of hard work,” Crosbie said.

He said the student council raises money to go into a special fund for the garden, and any expenses are paid from that fund.

Crosbie said several science classes study in the nature center, and the cross-country team practices on the nature trail that begins between the two memorial gardens.

Upkeep like mulching and weeding are completed by students, the school’s ecology club, Scout troops, relatives of the deceased and district maintenance workers.

Crosbie said at one particularly tragic point, seven stones were ordered in 16 months.

“It seemed like you’re done grieving for one, and something else would happen,” Crosbie recalled. “It’s difficult because we are a small school district and it affects everyone in the community.”

He said the smaller staff garden memorializes three teachers and two staff members.

“It says a lot about the community we have and how they pull together and contribute in times of need,” Crosbie said. “It’s nice to be a part of that.”

Karns City senior James Kriebel, who was Shyann’s boyfriend at the time of her death, said the memorial garden will help keep Shyann’s memory alive.

“It’s pretty nice,” said James. “I was happy when I found out about (Shyann getting a stone). People can come up here and have something to remember her by.”

The many teenagers who attended her dedication slowly filed past Shyann’s memorial with carnations, which they gently placed on her stone in memory of the friend they described as unique, energetic and kind-hearted.

Lori Undercuffler, a ninth grade history teacher at Karns City, led Shyann’s memorial. She said many students still talk about Shyann and express their grief.

Undercuffler said the memorial garden serves a vital purpose at the school and in the community.

“It’s a chance for kids to pay their respects privately, but also for us to remember the life they lived,” Undercuffler said.

Kuhns appreciated the serene garden and the stone that will memorialize the second of her four children for generations to come.

“I’d like to thank everyone for coming,” Kuhns said. “I don’t want Shyann to be forgotten.”