Garden dedicated to Deb Bree at Kane County Child Advocacy Center

GENEVA – Blue hydrangea, bright yellow daffodils and vivid red tulips edged in white bloomed in a garden at the Kane County Child Advocacy Center in Geneva, which was dedicated April 29 to honor its former director Debra Bree, who died of colon cancer.

The garden curves along the north side of the Advocacy Center, 427 Campbell St. There are two white Adirondack chairs and a picnic table. The garden was planted by staff members, Friends of the Child Advocacy Center and Wasco Nursery, said Lori Schmidt, director of the Kane County Child Advocacy Center.

The center, which is part of the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office, does investigations and prosecutions on behalf of child victims of sexual assault and sexual abuse.

The dedication and ribbon-cutting, set during Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention Month, honored Bree, who was one of the longest-serving assistant state’s attorneys at the Child Advocacy Center. Bree was known as a “champion for children,” Schmidt said.

“Deb was a fierce advocate for victims and their families inside the courtroom as an assistant state’s attorney and outside the courtroom as executive director of the Child Advocacy Center,” Schmidt said, speaking to a crowd of about 75. “As executive director, her focus was always on doing the right thing for victims, families and our community.”

Schmidt said Bree worked every day during her four-year battle with cancer.

“She was a true champion for victims,” Schmidt said.

Bree always had wanted a place outside where children and families who were facing their darkest hours could come for a little peace and brightness – and that is what the garden represents.

“I know Deb’s smile is shining down on us today,” Schmidt said.

Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser said whenever a child has to come to the Advocacy Center or the courthouse to testify, “it is never for something good.”

“It is a struggle that they have to go through and it takes an emotional toll on them that we will never understand,” Mosser said. “When Deb was here, she got to be a smile that those children will remember forever. And I don’t think that there’s a single child that she worked with who was not grateful that she was here to do this. What we have here today is another thing that will remind us of Deb’s smile.”

When children come to the Advocacy Center in the worst of times, they can still see the beauty of the garden dedicated to Bree, Mosser said.

Bree’s parents, Bill and Pat Bree, who drove 3 1/2 hours from Lincoln, Illinois, their daughter’s hometown, said they were touched by the ceremony and dedication.

“It was wonderful,” Pat Bree said, wiping away tears.

“We were deeply honored to have this done in our daughter’s honor,” Bill Bree said. “It’s really something that she always loved doing. I remember growing up, she was the kind of person who was always caring. And she thought more about others than she did herself, many many times. … We’re overwhelmed.”

Bree’s husband, Joseph Gay, a felony prosecutor in the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office, said they all were moved by the honor to his late wife.

Bree’s daughter Ella Melei, 18, cut the ribbon on the garden and her son Liam Gay, 5, passed out seed packets of forget-me-nots. Two other children, Owen and Aiden Melei, live with their father in Wisconsin, but saw the dedication through social media, Gay said.

“It’s an emotional day for us and a way to carry on Deb’s work,” Gay said.

“Her legacy … is going to be these four beautiful children that she’s left us. But the work that she did is still going on at the Child Advocacy Center, a group of people that give everything they have every day for these kids,” Gay said. “Now there’s a place that Deb wanted for them to be outside and to maybe get some beauty — a flower or a ray of sunshine. It’s going to mean a lot to our kids and a lot to our family, so we’re really grateful for all the efforts that came in and for everyone showing up today.”