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Amada Perez, 81, smiles as Sgt. Mike Van Grouw hands her flowers from the trunk of his patrol car at the Woodbridge grange on Friday. Lowe's and Color Spot Nurseries donated flowers to replace ones that were dug up and stolen from the grange earlier this month. (Dan Evans/News-Sentinel)
Deputies surprise caretaker with flower donations following theft at Woodbridge grange
Nearly every day, Amada Perez makes the short drive from her Lodi home to the Woodbridge grange, where she tends to the numerous flowers she has planted.
The 81-year-old has donated all the flowers, transplanting many from her own yard. She refers to the work as "play."
Then she showed up Saturday evening, and was dismayed to find that at least 30 flowers had been uprooted and stolen. Grange officials made a report with San Joaquin County Sheriff's deputies, thinking that was the end of it.
But on Friday, Sgt. Mike Van Grouw called Perez and asked if she could meet him at the Academy Street hall to get a little more information about the case.
Instead, Perez got quite the surprise when she saw two Sheriff's cars loaded with new flowers — Color Spot Nurseries and Lowe's had donated a total of about 400 new plants.
"Oh, my — look at that bounty," she said as Van Grouw and Deputy Brad Cook carried flats of flowers from their cars.
"How am I supposed to thank you?" Perez asked as she hugged Van Grouw.
He said he'd simply called a couple stores and asked if they could donate a few flowers.
Perez planned to set to work right away — though she refers to the gardening as her enjoyable form of exercise.
"I love to watch plants grow because I never know what they're going to do," said the industrious woman, who replaced her own roof three decades ago.
The flower theft crime itself is not especially egregious, but it caught the attention of Sheriff's officials. Woodbridge is one of the areas in the county that has a dedicated community car, a program Sheriff Steve Moore promised to resurrect when he ran for office.
Cook, one of two deputies who work in Woodbridge, said he regularly walks parts of the community and will certainly pay more attention to the grange now.
The grange, located across Lower Sacramento Road from the cemetery, recently underwent extensive renovations. The building was once a schoolhouse in Galt, and it was moved to Woodbridge in 1939.
Contact reporter Layla Bohm at layla@lodinews.com.
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Reader Feedback
PAL wrote on Aug 2, 2009 3:18 PM:
This is a very nice story that gives us all hope from the bad things that happen.
Thank you to all involved. "
napa valley chef wrote on Aug 1, 2009 10:40 PM:
wtf wrote on Aug 1, 2009 4:39 PM:
Mrs. S. wrote on Aug 1, 2009 11:07 AM:
ordinarycitizen wrote on Aug 1, 2009 9:49 AM:
I think what the two officers did for their community and for this woman was wonderful. Her smile says it all! "
ordinarycitizen wrote on Aug 1, 2009 9:45 AM:
1. That there are still dishonest people who think that they can take anything that appeals to their eyes, regardless of cost or labor to the ones that they are stealing from. It's a shame that there are thieves in this world who could care less that somebody worked hard and spent hard earned money to purchase what was just stolen. I hope and pray that every plant this person stole from the grange will wither and die, thus showing no fruit whatsoever of their ill gotten gain.
2. That there are still people in this world who care about their community. This dear lady has volunteered her time, energy and money to help make a building and its property beautiful simply because she loves to do it. She gets nothing in return except the deep satisfaction that only a gardener can understand; seeing beauty come from what has been planted. That is a blessing and a good thing.
3. The sherrif's in this community truly do care about the community that they are patrolling, and it shows in several ways.
This was a very positive and uplifting human interest story. "
mom of 2 wrote on Aug 1, 2009 6:44 AM:
warrenb1973 wrote on Aug 1, 2009 5:44 AM:
Comments on this story are now closed.