Tree honors slain Morning News employee

Ann Poulson loved to read. And when she died recently — the victim of a slaying — her reading club decided to remember her at the Festival of Trees.

"Curl Up With a Book" is a love letter to Poulson, who for years worked part time in accounting at the Deseret Morning News. Members of her neighborhood book club, Friends Read Together, donated more than $700 for decorations, which Carrie Finlinson and her friend Leslie Woodmansee placed on a "whimsical, cheery" tree. They also gathered lots and lots of books, stacked here and there near a rocking chair beside the tree.

"Ann was my church leader growing up, and she lived just down the street from us. She was a good friend," Finlinson said. Planning and decorating the tree "helps her friends have something constructive to do with our grief."