Gazebo Dedicated in Memory of Sam Lapidus

On November 16, ISS students, faculty and staff gathered by the ISS Lake to dedicate a gazebo to Sam Lapidus ’12. Click here to read a Birmingham News story about the gazebo project.

Sam, who had a form of bone cancer called Ewing’s sarcoma, passed away on November 5, 2008.

Upon his passing, classmates immediately wanted to build something in his memory, and they settled on a gazebo by the lake, one of Sam’s favorite places. Faculty and students — particularly those in the classes of Sam and his brother, Noah Lapidus ’13 — worked together to raise the money for the gazebo by holding car washes, selling t-shirts, and donating student activity dollars. Overall, almost $2,000 was raised.

The finishing touches were put on the gazebo during the November 6 D-Day project when students landscaped the area, added benches, and planted pomegranate trees and bushes donated by Lynn Bledsoe and Bill Ryan, parents of Daniel Ryan ’12. After much hard work, spirit and determination, the gazebo was complete a year after Sam’s passing.

The weather was beautiful the day of the dedication. It was a heartwarming memorial that closed with Noah cutting the ribbon across the gazebo’s entrance. The gazebo, the red roof and design of which matches the campus perfectly, sits by the lake and is there for everyone to admire and reflect on what is important to them.

Special thanks to the Gazebo Committee, which included faculty and staff members Victoria Arrand, April Berry, Jan Fortson, Kelly Jacobs and Bob Pollard as well as Leah Fox '12, Haley Payton '12 and Virginia Smith '12.

—By Julia Fawal '10