Rob AriasBy Berkeleyside Staff Writer Emilie Raguso
Photo: David Gallagher
On Russell Street a tree is blooming. Tibetan prayer flags hang across its branches in a rainbow of color. White paper tags that flutter, holding messages of hope and healing, are its blossoms. Looking closer, one might notice laminated photographs and Buddhist passages strung from the boughs, bouquets of flowers at its base.
The tree stands outside the Berkeley Zen Center, a Buddhist meditation group whose roots date back decades in South Berkeley. The memorial honors Nancy McClellan, the zen center’s head gardener, who was mortally stabbed after leaving a wedding at the center in mid-September. McClellan died in October after being removed from life support when she failed to recover from the injuries she sustained the sunny Friday afternoon she was attacked less than a block from her beloved garden at the zen center.
Having just lost a friend to illness, McClellan spent much of the wedding telling those around her that she loved them, friends recalled.
Friday, Oct. 24, the 18-year-old man charged with trying to kill 72-year-old McClellan after a failed carjacking was scheduled to enter a plea in that case. Kamau Berlin of Richmond — a student at nearby B-Tech — has been charged by the Alameda County district attorney’s office with attempted murder and attempted carjacking. Berkeley police said, after McClellan’s death, the charge would likely be upgraded to murder. The spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office said, as of Friday, that had not yet happened.
This news first appeared on Berkeleyside and has been reprinted here with permission.
Read More on Berkeleyside.com →
