Cultivating a Legacy: The Val Healey Tree Planting Initiative
The Portland Parks Conservancy is honored to share news of a very special recent gift.
Val Healey was a lifelong Mainer who dedicated her life to education, children, creative pursuits and nature. Val spent her career as an elementary and special education schoolteacher in Augusta, Bangor, and Portland, and pioneered Portland's very first outdoor education classroom and trail at Lyseth Elementary School. Outside of her professional achievements, Val was a true lover of nature, often exploring local trails with her golden retrievers, especially in nearby Evergreen Cemetery. Val passed away in April 2025 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
Together with her life partner, Lois Winter, Val made a very generous bequest to the Conservancy to support tree-planting in her beloved Evergreen Cemetery. Over the next five years, 80+ trees will be planted in Evergreen as a result of this remarkable gift.
“Val would be delighted to know that her legacy lives on with the trees planted in her beloved Evergreen Cemetery, and I am heartened to know that Val’s wish has been made possible not only with Val’s bequest but with the enthusiastic coordination and professional support from Jack at Portland Parks Conservancy, Mark, the City Arborist and Wes, the City Cemetery Director. I am also excited that Val’s gift can be a springboard, inspiring others to contribute to the even bigger initiative to plant many more trees — for beauty, shade, temperature moderation, wildlife and people — throughout our Forest City.”
This initiative kicked off with a community planting event on May 13th. A group of Val’s close friends joined other Conservancy volunteers to place the first ten trees in the ground. You can find photos of the May 13th event below.
With coordination by City Arborist Mark Reiland and Cemeteries Director Wes Brumbraugh, the Conservancy will continue to organize similar community events in the coming years until all 80 trees are planted.
The Evergreen tree-planting initiative supports a long-term City-Conservancy partnership to grow a healthier and more biodiverse tree canopy in Portland. Other current initiatives include the development of a long-term forestry management plan, establishing native landscapes in sidewalk esplanades in partnership with Maine Audubon, and a public education series on Portland’s “champion trees” curated by Community Tree Steward Ashley McHugh.
We are immensely grateful for Val and Lois’s exceptionally generous and conscientious gift. We hope you will join us for a future tree-planting event in Evergreen Cemetery to honor Val and contribute to a healthier tree canopy in our city.
