The Angel of Hope, featured within Zack’s Children’s Garden, serves as a symbol to represent and honor children. The Angel of Hope name comes from a best-selling book and television movie called The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans, who inspired this statue.

 

In the book, a woman mourns the loss of her child at the base of an angel monument. Though the story is mostly fiction, the angel monument once existed but was lost in the 1984 Salt Lake City flood. A new bronze statue was commissioned by the author in response to reports grieving parents were seeking out the angel as a place to grieve and heal. The first angel monument was dedicated on December 6, 1994-corresponding with the date of the child’s death in The Christmas Box. (Coincidentally, Dec. 6th is celebrated in many parts of the world as Children’s Day).

 

The sculpture is the creation of a father and son from Salt Lake City, Utah, Ortho and Jared Fairbanks, and modeled according to the description in Evans’ book. The face of the angel is that of Evans’ second daughter, Allyson-Danica. If you look closely you can find on the angel’s right wing (west) the word “hope.”