The city of Prairie Village is honoring the late Dennis Patton, a horticulture agent, during its Arbor Day celebration.
This year, the city’s tree board chose Patton as its Arbor Day honoree with the planting of a white oak tree at Wassmer Park.
Patton, who served as a horticulture agent with the K-State Research and Extension Office in Johnson County for more than three decades, died last month at the age of 64 following a months-long, puzzling battle with lung cancer.
The Prairie Village tree board hosts an annual Arbor Day event with an honoree, chosen from nominees submitted by the public.
Patton supported the tree board’s mission
- Lindsay Voitik, the chair of the Prairie Village tree board, told the Post that Patton is “near and dear to the tree board’s heart.”
- Patton regularly participated in the tree board’s annual fall tree seminar, including hosting a virtual seminar in 2020 and attending his final seminar in 2022.
- Additionally, Patton brought a Johnson County Extension Master Gardeners demonstration garden to Wassmer Park.
- Voitik said Patton also provided helpful information to the tree board and residents about what types of trees to plant in Prairie Village, among other pieces of advice, through his horticulture work.
- “Prairie Village is very appreciative of the support that Dennis and his family provided over the years, and this is our opportunity to recognize that,” Voitik said.
He had a ‘particular fondness for oak trees’
- Voitik said the tree board chose to plant a white oak in Patton’s honor because he had a “particular fondness for oak trees.”
- Patton worked with the city to plant both white and black oak trees at Windsor Park, 7200 Windsor St., Voitik said.
- He saw oak trees as keystone trees, and he mourned the loss of the oak tree caused by the U.S. Highway 69 construction in a KC Garden Club column, Voitik said.
- In that column, Patton wrote that he would mourn even more if trees are not planted for future generations to appreciate, Voitik said.
- “He was all about thinking about the community, not only in the immediate present, but also in the long term — making sure we considered future generations,” Voitik said.
The event starts at 10 a.m on April 27
- Voitik said the Arbor Day celebration will honor Patton’s family.
- The event is at Wassmer Park, and the public is encouraged to attend, ask questions about the demonstration garden and interact with the tree board.
- Voitik said the celebration is a chance for the community to admire its heavily-invested in tree canopy and learn how to grow it for the future.
Keep reading: Overland Park loses 150-year-old tree for U.S. 69 toll lanes
