"Even with all the time I spent with him, I did not realize the deep artistic feelings he had," Hortense said, holding letters, pictures and quotes from Child in her lap. "Artists have taught me how deeply artistic the garden is."

The last piece Child created was a purple stone meant to be sculpted like a globe. But Child became sick and died shortly after, so only faint outlines of the world's continents are visible on the rock.

Child's neighbor, Grant Fetzer, who assisted in preliminary stonework, ended up purchasing the Child home and garden. The Fetzer family maintained the garden for 35 years, opening it for a few hours on Sundays, protecting it from vandals and cutting back overgrowth. But after maintenance and liability costs became too high, the Fetzers announced plans to sell it, and the future of the garden was in limbo.

Saving the garden

Mary Lee Peters is still amazed at the diversity and amount of people who came out to support Gilgal when its future was on a chopping block. Artists, historians, community activists, the Heritage Foundation, people concerned about housing and others concerned about open space "came out of the woodwork," passionately, in favor of keeping the garden one of Salt Lake City's treasures.

But another group also stepped forward with more money and a different plan in mind: a real estate company. The Canadian company hoped to tear down the garden and the two homes on the property and turn the prime Salt Lake space into condominiums.

With Hortense at the helm, together the "friends" of the garden formed the non-profit Friends of Gilgal Garden, an organization dedicated to preserving and restoring the property.

"It was a diverse group that came together for various reasons, but the goal was the same," Peters said.

Formed in 1998, the group persuaded the San Francisco-based Trust for Public Lands to act as a mediary. and they started raising money to make the $600,000 purchase. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints pledged $100,000, as did the Eccles Foundation. Salt Lake County then pledged $400,000.

"At the time, the administration wanted to support Friends of Gilgal from a historical point of view, not a religious one," said Val Pope, Salt Lake Parks Division director. "They wanted to preserve the folk art and history."

With the help of other private donations, FOGG raised enough money to purchase the garden and transfer the property directly to the city. So more money could be raised for maintenance, the city sold the two homes on the property.

FOGG established a contract with the city so the city has minimal maintenance duties and opens and closes the gates. FOGG is the curator of the garden and bears the expense of renovations and conservation.