Going the extra yard

An artist’s rendering of the proposed Sept. 11 memorial in Foxborough, Mass. Image: Morse & Beggs Monument Co.Mike McGinty loved his yard.

As someone who moved around a lot as a child, he was happy to have a lawn and garden to tend to as an adult. It meant he was home.

But when Mike was killed in the Sept. 11 attacks, his wife Cindy was left to raise two children and maintain her Foxborough, Mass., yard. She wasn’t concerned about the judgment an unkempt yard could attract. It was more about what the yard signified.

“I really did feel like everybody would know where the widow McGinty lived ... because I was afraid it would be one big weed out there,” she says.

Then Chris Mitchell showed up and started mowing her lawn. McGinty’s children joined Mitchell’s Cub Scout pack in late 2000, so the two knew of each other. Mitchell wanted to help, and as owner of Fertilawn, a landscaping company in Foxborough, mowing was second nature for him.

“It’s what we do for a living,” he says.

Mitchell, along with scouts and other local companies, cared for McGinty’s lawn for the next eight years, even after she no longer needed the help. Though Mitchell was doing something he does every day, the effort meant a lot to McGinty.

“I often thought of Mike kind of smiling down on us because nobody could drive by and know where the widow McGinty lived because my lawn was the best lawn on the block…. Mike would have been very touched by that,” she says.

Never Forget
McGinty recently moved to Connecticut, so Mitchell has stopped mowing her lawn. But he hasn’t stopped thinking of Mike or 9/11.

It all started when McGinty made a speech in New York City on Sept. 11 of last year to talk about, unbeknownst to Mitchell, what his actions meant to her. On his way to New York, after being invited by McGinty, Mitchell noticed there were no flags on display around the center of town. It seemed all the patriotism that existed immediately after 9/11 had waned, and that bothered him.

“It was just like any other day,” Mitchell says. “I can remember after the attacks, flags were everywhere.”

So Mitchell and his wife, Paula, formed Foxboro Never Forgets to remind people of 9/11 and to pay tribute to the Americans who died in the attacks.

The plan is to invite every club, group and organization in town to participate in community service projects on the morning of Sept. 11. The group also wants to raise money to build a memorial at the Foxboro Public Safety Building.

So far, about $8,000 has been raised for the project, which Mitchell estimates will cost at least $75,000.

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