San Francisco Chronicle - The Voice of the West, 901 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94119 - Friday, October 3, 1997 - Page 1
Jeanne Cooper, Chronicle Staff Writer

Whether felled by man or nature, a missing redwood often leaves behind a circle of younger trees that sprang from it. Though gone, its place is forever marked by those still standing.

On Sunday, a small corner of the 1,000-acres Huddart County Park in Woodside will be dedicated as the Peninsula AIDS Memorial Grove. There, in the Madrone Picnic Area, almost a dozen soaring centenarians form a nave-like space around an even larger, now vanished sequoia.

In this simple setting of loss and growth, thoughts may turn to those taken by the epidemic, and to those who remain: friends, families and people still living with AIDS.

Palo Alto resident Carol Espinosa has always had an affinity for these tall trees. She and her brother, Douglas Crews, grew up among seedling redwoods planted in the Ladera development of Portola Valley. As adults, they donated money in their mother's memory to the Peninsula Open Space Trust and, in recognition, received a redwood seedling in a tube. Espinosa planted it in a pot in her back yard, where it's been growing steadily.

On Sunday, Espinosa will transplant the young tree to the grove in memory of her brother. He died of AIDS two years ago. "To me it's a very poignant thing, a living, growing memorial symbolizing hope for the end of the epidemic and love and support for the people going through it," she said, sitting in the filtered light of the redwoods last week. The wind whispered high above her head like waves rolling on a distant beach.

"In the mid term, I hope this place becomes a place with a sense of the sacred, a place to honor those who've fought the disease," Espinosa continued. "In the long term, I hope it stands as a memorial to a disease we've defeated, like the monuments to the Great Plague all over Europe."

A COMMON GOAL

An environmentalist with a background in software, Espinosa belongs to the memorial grove's 10- person steering committee, a diverse group that reflects the breadth of AIDS' impact.

Committee member James Creighton is a San Mateo attorney who offers pro bono estate planning services to people with AIDS, often too young to have experience with wills and bequests.

"Most of my friends who have died have been white males," Creighton said. But working with African Americans and women on the committee, he has been "quite touched" by their dedication and strength. "Our differences are not accentuated; it's our common goal to stop this disease."

Creighton has participated in the California AIDS ride for the last several years in memory of his friend Douglas Saria, who passed away in 1992 from AIDS-related causes.

"For years I've biked up Kings Mountain Road and marveled at the beauty of this forest," Creighton said at the grove, about a half mile from the tortuous road that passes by the park entrance. "Every time I come I've just been spellbound by the serenity of the place."

And he finds comfort in the fact that the grove is not a perfect circle. "Nature isn't as organized as we are. This far exceeds anything we could have built," he said.

COMBATING STEREOTYPES

For Rachel Powell, an AIDS education activist and committee member, the grove is a place to escape the daily pressures that caregivers and people with AIDS struggle with.

"When you work hard all day, you get home and kick your shoes off and relax," she said at her East Palo Alto office. "The grove is like that, a place of reflection and meditation. It doesn't have all the medicine bottles, the doctors' suggestions."

A staff member of the drug rehabilitation program Free at Last, Powell works every day with HIV- positive clients. When she was a drug user herself in the late 1980s, Powell said, a friend she used to get high with died suddenly of AIDS.

"She looked healthy and a few weeks later she was dead. This was when AIDS was very stereotyped. If someone gave you a dollar and you thought they had AIDS, you wouldn't take it," she recalled.

Five years ago, Powell went into recovery, but the number of people she knew who had the disease continued to grow. It hit home when her 32-year-old niece, Tracie, walked into a hospital and died two weeks later.

"She didn't know she had AIDS; her mom didn't know she had AIDS. I'm saying, `Why, why, how come she didn't know? " Powell said.

In response, she decided to "educate myself about the process, all the ins and outs, the medications, the doctors, the hospices, the recovery programs," Powell said. Eventually she became active in HIV- prevention programs in San Mateo County.

Although people's attitudes have changed, stereotypes persist, Powell said. "People can be more compassionate but they still keep their distance," she said. "For whatever reason a person has (AIDS), they shouldn't be judged."

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

The Madrone Picnic Area was first designated for "improvement" under a San Mateo County master plan in 1982, but no money was available. In August 1996, the area was chosen as the site for the Peninsula AIDS Memorial Grove, with minor dissent.

"A few voices at the very beginning felt it wasn't right to designate part of a county park for a memorial," explained Creighton. According to Espinosa, a similar memorial in Golden Gate Park helped overcome those concerns.

"The San Francisco AIDS grove has become so well known as a focal point for hope and encouragement and love that it normalized the grove as a natural thing to do," she said.

Earlier this year the INNW (If Not Now, When?) Fund, a Peninsula-based nonprofit foundation working to support Huddart Park, put together the grove's steering committee and coordinated volunteer efforts.

Dozens of volunteers from Community Impact, a Peninsula clearinghouse specializing in "done-in-a- day" projects, have helped landscape, build a split-rail fence, remove brush and install railroad ties around the parking lot, said INNW spokeswoman Joan Libman. They'll return tomorrow for more work before Sunday's dedication ceremony.

The gravel path that volunteers cleared to the grove will be wheelchair-accessible in a few weeks after the gravel has settled, Libman said. Still to come: signs listing donors and their loved ones, benches and paving of the nearby road. After donations have paid for those improvements, Creighton said, remaining funds will focus on education.

"There'll be workshops for schoolchildren to learn more about the forest and what this grove represents. We want to instill in young people a desire to preserve areas like this," he said. Scholarships for students to study environmental and medical issues, particularly relating to AIDS, will also be available.

Above all, committee members hope the grove becomes a source of healing for all of those affected by the disease.

"The scholarships and the plaques are really good things, but the one thing I would hope for the grove is for it to be used," Powell said. "When dealing with something as devastating as this life- threatening disease, meditation is very important. It was my niece who died, but she knew many people, and they have families too, so it's the whole community that needs to be involved." -------------------------------------------------------

THE PENINSULA AIDS MEMORIAL GROVE

The grove will officially open Sunday, but there's still time to contribute time or money to the memorial, located in the Madrone Picnic Area of Huddart County Park, 1100 Kings Mountain Road (off Highway 84) in Woodside.

TOMORROW

--VOLUNTEERS Community Impact will sponsor a day of volunteer work at the grove tomorrow from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Call (650) 965-0242 to sign up.

SUNDAY

--CEREMONY The grove is publicly dedicated with a ceremony from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., rain or shine. Rev. Mary Frazier of The Bread of Life Worship Center in East Palo Alto, Rev. Matthew McDermott of St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Palo Alto and Tom Kelley of Project Inform will speak, while the New Sweet Home Choir of East Palo Alto will perform. Nature walks and a native plant workshop will also be held, with refreshments courtesy of Stacks' Restaurants. Since adjacent parking is limited and trails from parking lots, though short, are uphill, organizers recommend taking carpools and wearing comfortable shoes. There will be a shuttle from the main lot for those incapable of walking. Call (650) 568-1070 for information.

FUTURE

--DONATIONS To support the ongoing renovation, maintenance and scholarship programs of the Peninsula AIDS Memorial Grove, a fund has been established through another nonprofit organization. Tax- deductible donations to the grove should be sent to PAMG/Peninsula Community Foundation, 1700 South El Camino Real No. 300, San Mateo, CA 94402.
971003
SC971001

Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 1997. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 1997. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .