Their caring efforts grow into Peace Garden

The two were nominated by longtime friends Klaire and Jack Pirtle, who said "their dedication to the community is unbelievable."

"Beki is the most wonderful while unassuming person," Klaire Pirtle said. "And Ric is the supportive husband who does it right along with her."

Chief among the Quinteros' accomplishments is the creation of the Peace Garden at Manuel Herrera Jr. Park, 5901 S. Fiesta Ave., near 12th Avenue and West Drexel Road.

The garden has become a gathering spot for neighborhood residents and an educational resource, too, because children and teens who tend to the plants there learn lessons about everything from ecology to respect for their community.

"It's had a very positive influence," Pirtle said. "Children come to the garden, and they bring their families, and it doesn't matter how old you are, everyone works together to plant and help things grow.

"There's a maze and a butterfly area, places where you can sit on benches and think. It's a model for all communities, to have something like that where kids can go and be safe and learn."

The idea for the garden came more than four years ago, Beki Quintero said, after some of the kids in her neighborhood decided they wanted to beautify the park. She gave them some supplies and afterward they had a little celebration.

The kids came back again, she said, and they continued working in the park for about six weeks. They had a big party after that and decided they could do even more for the area.

"One of the kids said, 'Wouldn't it be nice if we had a garden here?' I'd already been working on it, and when I heard it from the kids, I thought 'Let's do it.' "

Quintero, who works for Tucson Clean & Beautiful, and her youthful crew received much help from the city and Harlow Gardens and eventually transformed a corner of the park into the garden. It was especially rewarding, she said, because the corner had been a particularly troublesome area for the neighborhood, attracting crime, vandalism and other problems.

The Pirtles have been impressed by the work the couple put into the garden, but it seems about par for them, Klaire said. They've always been giving people — organizing neighborhood cleanups and other events.

The two couples have known each other for about 40 years, since Beki and Ric were high school sweethearts taking classes from Jack Pirtle at Sunnyside High School. They took his civics class separately, and Beki met Klaire through a physical education class designed for aspiring teachers, which allowed her to go to Los Niños Elementary School and teach Klaire's students. Afterward, Beki babysat for the couple, too.

After graduation, they all remained in touch and eventually became friends. That relationship continued even though the Pirtles moved to the Lake Tahoe area for about 21 years when Klaire became a principal at a school there. The couple returned to Tucson almost five years ago.

"They've been my mentors," Beki Quintero said. "They've been so good to me."

Klaire Pirtle decided to nominate her friends after attending a bell-making session at the Ben's Bells studios not too long ago with the local alumni group of her sorority, Pi Beta Phi.

"I started asking questions about how do you get bells, and Beki and Richard were the first people who came to mind."

The belling was extra special because it was a surprise part of the fourth anniversary celebration for the garden last week. About 50 people were there, including people from another project that encourages kindness in memory of a lost child, the Shyann Kindness Project.

"Whenever Klaire can, she comes down with her grandkids," Beki Quintero said. "So I didn't think anything of it when she showed up. And then the lady from Ben's Bells came and I said, 'Great. I've been wanting to meet you.' Then they belled me! It was such a surprise."

The group hung the bell in a tree in the garden. "It's so sweet and pretty," Quintero said.

She credits her husband for allowing her to do so much, calling him a "workhorse" for their efforts. The mother of three attributes her community spirit to her parents, well-known for their work in the community. In fact, the park that surrounds the peace garden is named for her father. Quintero is one of seven siblings, all deeply involved in their communities.

"I think everyone has a purpose," she said, "and everything that I've wanted to do was to help others."

ben's bellings

The Ben's Bells project began in March 2003, one year after Ben Maré Packard died of croup, just before his third birthday. His family hopes it reminds people to be kind, to help ease one another's pain.

The latest phase of the project began in September 2005, weekly "bellings" for those among us who make our community a better, kinder place to live.

If you know people who deserve a Ben's Bell, nominate them to be "belled." Go to www.929themountain.com/pages/jennie_itm.html and click on Ben's Bellings. To learn more about the project, go to www.bensbells.org, or help work on bells by dropping by the studio, 816 E. University Blvd., in Geronimo Plaza. It's open Friday 2-7 and Saturday 10-3.

And check the Star each Saturday to see the latest recipient.