When folks picked produce at the Watkins Pond Community Garden today, they were thinking about Carl Henn, who helped start that garden and many others throughout Rockville, Md.
The gardeners were so grateful for his work and dedication, they invited him to their picnic last Sunday at King Farm Park to celebrate their harvest.
Then the unthinkable happened.
The big thunderstorm moved through and Carl Henn was struck by lightning. He died Tuesday at the hospital.
Dennis McCarthy was there. He assumed Henn had made it to a car, like the others. When the storm was over, they went back and found Henn, 48, lying on the ground next to a tree. He was not breathing.
"We moved him away from the tree in case there was another strike. We took him up here to the grass and just kept working on him, thinking that the others would be able to get an ambulance up here," McCarthy said.
The friends took turns doing CPR. When no one was able to reach a 911 operator to report the emergency, a man who lived nearby drove Henn to the hospital in his SUV.
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Doctors restored his heartbeat and for a while it looked like he would make it. Unfortunately, he did not.
Henn is being remembered as an environmentalist, an activist and an avid cyclist. He recently ran for the Rockville City Council, posting his campaign video on YouTube.
Friends and supporters plan to dedicate a garden in his memory.
