The Schnurr Columbine is more than a botanical curiosity. It is a symbol of persistence—both of the plant itself, clinging to life in a brutal environment, and of the people who refused to let it become a footnote.
"In the end, it wasn't a grant or an institution that saved it," Margaret Fennimore-Torres says. "It was a family who loved a mystery more than a vacation."
The keyword "" refers to Valeen "Val" Schnurr , a survivor of the Columbine High School massacre on April 20, 1999. She is best known for her miraculous survival in the school library and her involvement in the "She Said Yes" controversy, where she was identified by investigators as the student who actually professed her faith in God during the shooting—a story initially attributed to the late Cassie Bernall . The Library Ordeal
This is not the end of the story. Enter the of Colorado Springs. David Fennimore, a high school biology teacher, had read Schnurr’s original 1931 paper as a graduate student. He became obsessed. Every summer, he dragged his reluctant wife, Eleanor, and their two teenage children up treacherous slopes with a tattered copy of Schnurr’s hand-drawn map.
The Schnurr Columbine is more than a botanical curiosity. It is a symbol of persistence—both of the plant itself, clinging to life in a brutal environment, and of the people who refused to let it become a footnote.
"In the end, it wasn't a grant or an institution that saved it," Margaret Fennimore-Torres says. "It was a family who loved a mystery more than a vacation."
The keyword "" refers to Valeen "Val" Schnurr , a survivor of the Columbine High School massacre on April 20, 1999. She is best known for her miraculous survival in the school library and her involvement in the "She Said Yes" controversy, where she was identified by investigators as the student who actually professed her faith in God during the shooting—a story initially attributed to the late Cassie Bernall . The Library Ordeal
This is not the end of the story. Enter the of Colorado Springs. David Fennimore, a high school biology teacher, had read Schnurr’s original 1931 paper as a graduate student. He became obsessed. Every summer, he dragged his reluctant wife, Eleanor, and their two teenage children up treacherous slopes with a tattered copy of Schnurr’s hand-drawn map.