UAMS Northwest Pharmacy Students Honor Student with Garden

By Nate Hinkel

 Four crape myrtles and a maple were among the trees planted in the Josh Neal Memorial Garden.

More than a dozen of Neal’s friends and family members helped the garden take shape.
The garden also features tables and chairs and will be a place for students to eat, study or hang out.

The garden also features tables and chairs and will be a place for students to eat, study or hang out.

July 26, 2011 | Though he never officially attended a class there, Josh Neal will forever be a vibrant and spirited part of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Northwest campus.

Neal, of Springdale, was set to be a part of the inaugural class of third-year students attending the UAMS Northwest College of Pharmacy this fall. His dream of becoming a pharmacist was cut short when he died from a seizure disorder in the fall of 2010.

In his honor, more than a dozen students, friends, family and faculty spent July 16 constructing a memorial garden in a 10-by-30-foot outdoor space on the north side of the UAMS Northwest campus facing the Veteran’s Administration Hospital. Neal was an avid gardener, so paying tribute with green thumbs was a natural fit.

“He was sports, he was gardening, and he was biology,” said Neal’s wife, Laura. “I mean, that was him in a nutshell.”

Leslie Hitt, student affairs and faculty development specialist for UAMS Northwest, said Parker Trumann, a local landscaper, volunteered countless hours recommending and directing the implementation of plants, trees and flowers that will best fit the space and environment. The group also put in a watering system beneath the dirt. The garden includes two tables with chairs, four crape myrtles, a maple tree, hydrangeas, azaleas, boxwoods, cone flowers, lamb’s ears and ivy. The space also will include a bench inscribed with Neal’s name.

“It’s a wonderful project that will bring peace and happiness to people for years to come,” Hitt said. “It’s a tribute to the kind of person Josh was that all of his family and friends are out here spending a hot Saturday to do something special in his memory. Students can eat, study or hang out here while enjoying the garden.”