The West Hartford Garden Club has restored the area at the corner of Raymond and Park Roads – creating a memorial friendship garden in memory of the late Ashleigh Woodfield and Jennifer Hamilton.

By Jennifer Schlichting

A restored garden – now a friendship garden – is the perfect way to establish a permanent memory of Ashleigh Delia Woodfield and Jennifer Reardon Hamilton.

The two girls – best friends who were both student athletes at West Hartford’s Conard High School – were visiting colleges in Massachusetts on the fateful day of Oct. 23, 2004, when they were involved in a fatal car crash. According to news reports at the time, Hamilton was pronounced dead at the scene while Woodfield died later that day at the hospital.

West Hartford Garden Club President Susan Lindberg and a team of volunteers designed the new garden for the parklet at the corner of Raymond Road and Park Road, which will officially be rededicated on Friday, Oct. 24 as “Friendship Memorial Park,” Director of Leisure and Social Services Helen Rubino-Turco said. Leisure Services, along with West Hartford’s Department of Public Works, collaborated with the Garden Club on the restoration project.

Thousands of bulbs, as well as various shrubs, had previously been planted on the property, and as his Eagle Scout project, benches were built and installed by Joshua Kyle. After the area served as a staging area during construction in the area of I-84 Exit 43 that began in 2018, those plantings were damaged.

“It’s been restored and is again a fitting memorial,” said Beth Ann Loveland Sennett, co-chair of civic projects for the Garden Club. Many of the girls’ favorite flowers and colors were incorporated into the new design, and a new commemorative bench has been installed.

When she died Woodfield was 17, and a senior at Conard. She was a diligent student, and “a one-of-a-kind, kind of person,” as remembered by Ted Holmes, her junior year golf coach. Holmes mentioned how loved she was by her whole team, and said she always had a smile on her face and was friendly and kind to everyone.

Woodfield was also involved in Conard music productions and in the Summer Arts Festival. An early entrepreneur, in middle school she would design jewelry and sell them to stores in West Hartford Center. She was known as a very caring individual, and donated most of the proceeds she made to charities, such as Dana Farber Brain Cancer Unit, and others. 

Hamilton was also 17, and also a senior at Conard. Nicole Niland, a teacher at Conard, said Jennifer was a “hard worker and [very] driven.” She was a communicant of the Church of St. Brigid, as well as a diver on Conard’s swimming and diving team, served on the Class Board, and was a member of West Hartford’s Figure Skating Club.

She was previously on the golf team, as well as the cheerleading team. Hamilton was remembered as someone who put her “all” into all that she did, and truly was an outstanding young woman. As well as the above activities, she also was an active member, and participant in. the yearly American Cancer Society Relay for Life Event. 

Niland still remembers the moment when she heard the news of the crash, saying that it was “one of those calls that was hard to believe. How could we have lost both of them?” Niland also expressed how “surreal that it was 21 years ago” – and many members of the West Hartford community would likely agree with that feeling. 

Holmes mentioned how supportive Conard’s community was after Woodfield and Hamilton had passed away. As an example, the art department and clubs made signs for the girls – making around 30 signs in total, which was a very rigorous and impassioned project for the students who were involved. Holmes explained how much the members of the Conard girls golf team wanted to create something to commemorate Ashleigh Woodfield and Jennifer Hamilton – and that led to the establishment of the Ashleigh and Jennifer Memorial Golf Outing & Scholarship Event.

The Ashleigh and Jennifer Memorial Golf Outing & Scholarship Event started as an idea from the girls on the golf team. They brought the scholarship proposal to the teachers at Conard, and everyone loved the idea. It was a golf tournament that would charge $125 per person, and all proceeds would go to the scholarship fund for Conard students. Through the fund they raised between $4,000-$5,000 each year, and each student recipient would get around $1,00o to $1,500 each.

The teachers at Conard would vote to choose the recipient, and the scholarship would go to an artistic and community-oriented student, just like Ashleigh and Jennifer.

The golf tournament came to an end around 10 years ago, though it ran for a decade, and it was a very successful scholarship program that was able to help many students.

Unfortunately, Holmes said, “Memorial tournaments fade away as the memory fades away.” Though the tournament has ended and the memories may have started to fade, because of West Hartford’s Garden Club, West Hartford will always have a place to remember the impact, and lives of Ashleigh Woodfield and Jennifer Hamilton.

“They loved each other profoundly and unconditionally, and their legacy provides a road map of how to make and nurture deep friendships,” Rubino-Turco said.

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