Hughson Arboretum saying goodbye to founder Sturtevant

The Hughson Arboretum and Gardens will say goodbye to its founder and welcome its future April 30.

Margaret Claudia Marsh Sturtevant, who turned parts of the family farming operation into the arboretum over two decades, died Jan. 9 at 96.

Sturtevant initially created a nonprofit entity in 2002, but became frustrated when the executive director hired a Seattle landscape architecture firm that came up with a design that would have cost $20 million.

So, in 2006, she retook the property, dissolved the nonprofit board and, four years later, started all over again with a new nonprofit, a new board and a financially feasible plan. She remained the driving force in every way possible, current board President Thom Clark said.

The arboretum’s nonprofit board will host an open house beginning at noon Saturday that will include a celebration of Sturtevant’s life and introduce the markers identifying all of the trees in the nine forested acres at Whitmore Avenue and Euclid Road in Hughson.

Con Brio, a string quartet made up of musicians from the Modesto Symphony Orchestra, will provide the music.

The event begins at noon, ends at 4 p.m. and is open to the public.

This story was originally published April 23, 2016 at 2:32 PM with the headline "Hughson Arboretum saying goodbye to founder Sturtevant."