Christina Taylor Green’s life was taken from her before she turned 10.
She was interested in politics and inspired by former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, prompting her to attend the Congress on Your Corner event in 2011 at the Safeway in Casas Adobes near Tucson.
Michelle Pruitt previously worked as an administrative assistant at Green’s school. She remembers the third grader from Mesa Verde Elementary School as an extroverted student.
“She was a bubbly little nine-year-old that was just very popular and very outgoing. She was the little sister to Dallas and more of a big sister to Dallas if that makes sense,” Pruitt said.
Green and her brother Dallas both attended Mesa Verde, but her brother was in the grade above her. They also played baseball together on a little league team called the Pirates. Green and her friend Mae Sinclair were the only girls on the boys team, Pruitt recalled.
Green’s father was a scout for the Dodgers baseball team and got his kids interested in playing.
“Baseball was her life and she didn’t want to be playing softball,” Pruitt said. “She wanted to go out there and play with the boys.”
Today, an angel statue stands at 9 feet 11 inches tall at the James Kriegh Park in Oro Valley where Green played baseball. The memorial’s height is a nod to Green’s birthday, which was September 11, 2001.
In February 2011 her family renamed a portion of the Canyon del Oro park off of the Loop to the Christina Taylor Green River Park. It wasn’t until 2016 when the park went under construction to incorporate a memorial, plaque and butterfly garden unveiled in 2017.
Laurel Elders is a mosaic and tile artist who worked on the tile mural at river park Green memorial for three months.
“It was such an honor,” Elders said. “Because when these tragedies happen there is an opportunity for people to come together and make the best out of it and try to move on in a positive way. It was such an honor to be a part of it.”
Elders remembers seeing the Green family respond to the great work of landscapers, artists and community members six years after the shooting in the unveiling. Elders made sure to incorporate the specific symbols in Green’s honor when talking with the family.
“I know there were some things that were her favorite like the hummingbirds and of course including the donors,” Elders said. “Beyond that I was just given ‘do what you do as an artist’ so I included desert landscaping [in the mural] as well.”
Resting on top of the tall mosaic structure is a butterfly, a replica of the same butterfly Green drew in an art class. Pruitt said that it was the last art project she did before the shooting. This butterfly became the logo of the foundation in her name.
Green received her first Holy Communion at the St. Odilia Catholic Community Church in 2nd grade. A metal statue of her handing a dove to Jesus, a healing garden and an education building memorialize Green at the church.
Pam Simon, a staff member working for Gabrielle Giffords at the time, and a survivor of the January 8th shooting, became a board member of the January 8th memorial in downtown Tucson.
“Some of the reasons [for] having memorials is to not forget that something profound happened to that community or broader to the state and the world," Simon said. “One of our main goals was to provide a place for the community to come together to remember but also to commemorate how the Tucson community came together for each other: for the survivors and the families of the victims.”
Now, 15 years later, the memory of Green and all the victims of the January 8th shooting are featured around Tucson.
Pruitt said that all the memorials in her honor are beautiful, but that memories go beyond.
“With Christina- it’s not mostly about the memorials," Pruitt said. "It’s about the kindness and goodness in people.”
