Editor’s note: The Capitol Christmas trees in Austin shone brighter with a teacher-designed ornament honoring the nine girls House District 108 lost in the catastrophic flooding on July 4, 2025. The beautiful tribute to Lila Bonner, Blair Harber, Brooke Harber, Hadley Hanna, Janie Hunt, Hanna Lawrence, Rebecca Lawrence, Wynne Naylor, and Eloise Peck hung on a 28-foot Virginia pine along with others created by constituents from each Texas House of Representatives district.
By Jeni Munsie
Janie Hunt, one of the girls honored on the ornament, was my art student for three years from kindergarten through second grade. Janie was such a positive light in my classroom, always coming up with creative artistic ideas, and always the best friend and helper to her classmates. The April before she passed, I had featured one of her art pieces in the Highland Park ISD Art Show, and she was so proud to show her art to her family and friends. It was truly a special day for all of us!
Janie’s favorite color was pink, so when I was asked to create an ornament honoring these girls, I immediately knew it had to be bright pink. I wanted it to be so bright so that no one could miss the ornament hanging on the tree.
I started decorating the glass ornament by using an acrylic pouring medium on the inside. While it was still wet, I then poured in the brightest pink glitter I could find and slowly swirled the ornament until the glitter covered the entire inside. I did this process twice to make sure every spot was completely covered with bright pink glitter.
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For the outside of the ornament, I attached nine golden hearts representing the nine girls lost from our House of Representatives District. I also used some golden letter beads that I strung onto a pink velvet ribbon for each of the girls’ initials. Throughout this process, I was often tearing up as I counted out the number of hearts and pulled out every letter for the girls’ initials. It is still shocking to me just how many girls were lost, and I really wanted to do my very best work to honor their memory.
To finish off the ornament, I tied a huge bright pink silk ribbon to the top, again with the goal of making this ornament unable to be missed on the tree. I also attached a tag with each of the girls’ full names on one side, and “Forever in our Hearts” on the other side. Not only did I want the ornament to be seen by everyone looking at the tree, but I wanted to make sure people knew the names of our girls.
It really was an honor to be asked to make this ornament. It really was a work of heart, and I hope it shows how much these girls mean to us and how much we still hold them close to our hearts.
Jeni Munsie teaches art at Hyer Elementary School in University Park.
