Just ask Villacorta Elementary “How does your garden grow?” and the Rowland Unified students will reply “Very well, thank you.”

The local school dedicated a very special reading garden on Sept. 11. The new garden was built in the memory of Henry Serrano, one of two men killed in a shooting at Southern California Edison in Irwindale on Dec. 16, 2011.

Serrano’s wife, Judy, taught kindergarten and first grade for seven years at the La Puente school. She retired this year after more than two decades in Rowland Unified and 33 years of teaching.

The Serrano family wanted to honor Henry’s memory, so they followed a project that he had begun shortly before his death.