Community garden at Wichita elementary school dedicated to late teacher

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) – Jefferson Elementary School dedicated its new community garden in honor of a former teacher.

Sally’s Serenity Garden was dedicated on Tuesday, named in honor of Sally Nelson, who died from cancer in 2025.

The garden will offer students the chance to plant flowers and vegetables and learn more about healthy living. Sally’s family said that gardening meant everything to her.

“She was like, my goodness, two weeks before she passed, she was on her hands and knees, putting in plants at her mother’s house. She has a garden, Sally’s garden, at my mother’s home,” said Nancy Haselgren and Virginia Smith, Nelson’s sisters. “It makes her happy. That’s where she wanted to be. That’s where she wanted to take her last breath, that’s where she felt the love.”

Nelson started at Jefferson as a substitute teacher. Current teachers at Jefferson said they convinced Nelson to go back to school to get her teaching license, because she was so good with her students.