Oak Trees Planted in Memory of Teachers

Students at Chadwick School on the Palos Verdes Peninsula planted half a dozen oak trees Tuesday in memory of two teachers in the school’s outdoor program who were killed last month in a Utah avalanche.

The deaths of Max Lyon and Karl Mueggler had a large impact on students at the private school who had learned how to navigate the wilderness in the program that the two taught. Planting trees in Chadwick Canyon, a tree-shrouded area where the pair helped restore the lush hillsides, was how the students decided to remember their instructors.

“It was very fitting,” said Martin Byhower, a teacher and ecology club advisor who coordinated the planting. “The trees will live in memory of them.”

Nearly 100 students from first grade through high school participated.

Many students said they took part in the event to help heal the loss they have felt since the instructors were killed. Best friends Steven Stappaerts and Stephen Swank said that Lyon taught them rock climbing while Mueggler taught the two eighth-graders kayaking, a sport they have said they have grown to love as much as the instructor.

“Karl loved kayaking and wanted to teach anyone,” Swank said. “I keep thinking he’s gonna come back. I still can’t believe he’s gone.”

Swank and Stappaerts said they sometimes feel like they don’t want to kayak because Mueggler is gone. But Mueggler wouldn’t have wanted that, they say, so they are instead instructing new kayakers.

“You don’t realize how someone has affected you until they’re gone,” Stappaerts said. “He taught us everything.”