We moved to Tanuri Ridge in June of 2010. In February Margarita Berg a resident of this neighborhood passed away. So we never met Margarita, but feel we got to know her through her husband, David.
David and Margarita would frequently walk their dogs on the trails down by the Tanque Verde Wash. Shortly after we moved here, I discovered the trails and the area designated initially by the Tanuri Ridge developer as a community park.
Anyone who has walked these trails is aware of Margarita’s memorial on a trail nearest the wash. Located at the base of a mesquite tree, approximately thirty feet from the washes edge.
During the winter of 2015, heavy rains in the mountains sent a current of water washing away some of the banks of the usually dry wash.
Then, last week heavy winter participation in the mountains overnight again sent a flash flood down the wash, rerouting the flow.
Noticing the flow of water from our patio that morning, I waited till the afternoon before going down to the wash.
As I walked the trail, I could see trail nearest the wash was gone, so too the mesquite tree with Margarita’s memorial.
The flow of the wash was now down about four feet from its early morning peak. The flooding had been so extensive, socking the land making it too dangerous to go looking for the tree.
I returned the next day to try walking west along the wash.
Looking across the wash, on the newly formed island a tree laid with large roots sticking up. Was this Margrete’s tree?
I wasn’t sure till I spotted a yellow plastic flower hanging in the debris.
Once I downloaded the images, I cropped the image of the downed tree. Over the years since 2011, the memorial has been maintained, adding plastic flowers and hanging trinkets from the tree.
In the early days of the memorial, David would visit the site, dropping rose petals on the memorial plaque.
— kenne
