By John Johnston
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Raymond A. Schindler transformed the courtyard at Harrison Elementary into an inviting garden. The Cincinnati Enquirer/STEVEN M. HERPPICH

Ray Schindler has always been a guy who gets things done.

In 26 years with Ohio State University Extension, the community development specialist worked with residents from one end of the state to the other on issues ranging from waste disposal and land use to crime prevention and water quality. He taught people how to find and groom leaders. He advised. He organized. He nurtured.

In a sense, he planted seeds that helped communities grow and prosper.

And he was good at it. The walls of his den in Harrison Township are covered with plaques from grateful groups that benefited from his work.

Schindler retired in 1988. He will be 76 Sunday. He could have decided to kick back and relax long ago. Instead, he still involves himself in projects that improve communities. He's still planting seeds.

He took on one such project more than six years ago. It's best seen in person, he says, so he hops in his car and drives about three miles to Harrison Elementary School.

It's late morning when he signs in and makes his way through familiar halls. He walks into a third-grade classroom, where the first person to greet him is 9-year-old Angelica Jones.

"You did a nice job in the courtyard," she tells him.

The courtyard is a rectangular space, about 90 feet by 30 feet. Surrounded on all sides by classrooms and the school library, it's easily accessible to students.

"It's great," says another third-grader, Jackson Pieper. "It's pretty, and they put new plants in each year."

The children are students of Suzanne Vinel, who has been teaching at the school 11 years.

"I was here when (the courtyard) was a big pile of weeds," she says. "It's had a huge transformation."

Thanks to Ray Schindler.

"We come out here every day," Vinel says. "They live for it. Reading and snack time are always out here."

Schindler's two grandchildren attend the school. His daughter, Linda Berger, is a member of the PTA. She's the one who asked if he would nurture the courtyard back to health.

He solicits helpers through the school newsletter. Students pitch in, too.

Some sixth-graders were assisting Schindler a year ago. He was on top of a wall, trimming holly, when he slipped and fell, breaking an arm and slicing an artery. Blood spurted. The children ran for help.

That scary moment notwithstanding, the courtyard is a serene, inviting place.

"The azaleas are in bloom now," Schindler says, walking through the space. "The peonies are coming up."

He walks past a stone memorial: "In Loving Memory of Amber," it says. Harrison Elementary student Amber Garrett was 10 years old when she was beaten and stabbed to death in 1991. Her killer is on Ohio's death row.

Nearby, a dogwood has flowered. A magnolia is almost ready to.

This morning, about 10 children are reading silently on concrete benches. A boy cradling a book takes a bite out of an apple.

The columbine is flowering, Schindler notes. The seeds were a gift from the PTA of Columbine High School in Colorado, scene of a tragic shooting five years ago. "We remember," says one of the engraved rocks Schindler placed by the plants. "Spread love and joy," says another.

He tries to plant flowers that will bloom when students are around to enjoy them.

Back in the school hallway, Schindler runs into principal Stephanie Tillman, who says of the courtyard: "We're so proud of it."

So, too, is the white-haired man who nurtures it. He returns later that afternoon to weed the area around Amber's memorial.

E-mail jjohnston@enquirer.com