Idaho teen, classmates create priceless gift for great-grandmother

SANDPOINT, Idaho — Eighth graders in Patrick Lynch’s math class at Sandpoint Middle School make their own wind chimes every spring. It’s a school tradition that spans two decades.

They learn the formulas, create their plans, and start drilling.

What they create is something spectacular, but this year, Zander Marshall’s wind chime was stolen off a friend’s porch, right before he was going to give it to his great-grandmother.

“I was just really sad, I didn’t know who would even do that,” Marshall said.

His great-grandma Sharon Marsonette posted about the story on a community Facebook group.

“I saw that this grandmother was really upset and the kid super upset,” Lynch said.

Lynch knew what he needed to do.

“I got to class the next day and he already had all the pipes and pieces of wood ready for me,” Marshall said.

What Lynch and Marshall’s classmates didn’t know then, is why the wind chimes were so important.

“I lost my son and when I hear the wind chimes, I think of him,” Marsonette said.

Each wind chime is a connection to the past she lost decades ago. That’s the weight this project carries, but that’s not why Marshall’s classmates helped him.

“I try teaching these kids that you’re gonna get whacked in life,” said Lynch. “Bad things strike at you all the time and it’s up to you to rise above it.”

It seems like Lynch’s students were listening. The project that took Marshall 18 days to do alone, took just one with his class.

“There’s always a bright side to every story. There is always a good and a bad and you’ve got to try to look for the good,” Marshall said.

And even if you can’t see the good, maybe you can hear it.

“There are little things that come along, like him, that say he’s not gone. All that love is still there,” Marsonette said.

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