Mehringer Prayer Garden
As he opened the April 25 blessing and dedication ceremony for the prayer garden named in her honor, Reitz Memorial High School President Brother Lawrence Murphy described Shelly (Knies) Mehringer’s legacy.
“Shelly saw beauty in the world,” he said, “and all through her life tried to share that beauty with us.” Hundreds joined the Mehringer and Knies families, Bishop Charles C. Thompson, priests of the Diocese of Evansville and Reitz Memorial students to dedicate a pathway and garden on the high school campus to her memory.
Mehringer, a Jasper native who taught at Annunciation Parish’s Christ the King campus and Reitz Memorial, died suddenly in December 2013 after an acute attack of a rare blood disorder.
“Hopefully this garden, in memory of Shelly, will be a source of comfort,” Bishop Thompson said. “As we come together today we pray for the grace that this path and this garden will always remind us to seek consolation in the proper place … to take the proper path, that is always in God alone. We pray that we may continue to seek the will of the Father, the way of the Son and the consolation of the Spirit.”
After blessing the prayer garden and the path that runs through it, Bishop Thompson asked those in attendance to join him in a special prayer.
“I always tell people – and I mean this – the greatest thing you can do for me is pray for me,” he said. “So I would just like for us to pray for the Mehringer family as we ask the Blessed Mother’s special protection upon them." Attendees joined Bishop Thompson in praying the Hail Mary.
In thanking everyone who attended, Shelly’s husband Bob noted that April 25-26 was “Little Five Weekend” on the Indiana University campus. “It’s kind of fitting,” he said, “for those people who knew … the importance of ‘Little Five’ … the ‘Little 500’ that she missed her godson’s baptism because it was ‘Little Five Weekend.’”
“Little Five” and the “Little 500” refer to a bicycle race held annually on the IU campus in Bloomington.
Bob went on to thank everyone who contributed to making the prayer garden and path reality. The path in the prayer garden, just south of Traylor Family Stadium on the Memorial Campus, runs west to South Willow Road, adjacent to the St. Benedict Cathedral campus.
“Resplendent with Beauty” stands near the west end of the path. Artist Bob Zasadny created the sculpture for the prayer garden. Near the path’s east end, a three-section sitting wall holds special significance.
“Mark Schoenbaum (art teacher at Reitz Memorial) did the tiles (inset into the wall),” Bob said, “which include handprints of students of Shelly’s at Christ the King and Memorial, friends and family, and our pets. You’ll find a kitty paw print and a couple of dog prints mixed in there too.”
Bob then told the story of visiting Ziemer’s Funeral Home recently when a friend’s Dad passed away. His friend’s daughter was a student of Shelly’s.
“… as I’m saying something to her,” Bob said, “she just cut me off in mid-sentence and just said, ‘I miss Mrs. Mehringer.’
“All I could say was ‘You know, we all really miss her,’” Bob said, his emotions impossible to hide. “Sometimes it takes a child to say the things that we, as adults, can’t say. Ever since then, I’ve been thinking about that. What she said really sums it all up. We miss Shelly … our wife and our mom … our sister … our friend.”
