Sculpture of girl remembers Ellen Browning Scripps.

Bronze sculpture of young girl dipping finger into shallow basin of water. The Ellen Browning Scripps Memorial is located at the La Jolla Recreation Center.
Bronze sculpture of young girl dipping finger into shallow basin of water. The Ellen Browning Scripps Memorial is located at the La Jolla Recreation Center.

During my recent walk around La Jolla, I paused for a bit to admire a beautiful bronze sculpture at the La Jolla Recreation Center. The life-size likeness of a girl dipping a finger into a basin of water is officially called the Ellen Browning Scripps Memorial. Created by artist Mary Buckman and dedicated in 1997, the gentle artwork remembers a very important figure in San Diego history: Ellen Browning Scripps.

If you live in San Diego, you surely recognize the name Ellen Browning Scripps. She and her brother created a vast business empire as newspaper publishers. During her life she gave most of her wealth away to good causes. She spent much of her life in La Jolla. Indeed, she lived right across Prospect Street from the present-day sculpture; her old residence is now home to the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego in La Jolla.

This sculpture by Mary Buckman is dedicated to the memory of Ellen Browning Scripps. June 28, 1997. A beloved sculpture by James Tank Porter occupied this site from 1926 until its disappearance in 1996.
This sculpture by Mary Buckman is dedicated to the memory of Ellen Browning Scripps. June 28, 1997. A beloved sculpture by James Tank Porter occupied this site from 1926 until its disappearance in 1996.
People enjoy a nearby bench at the La Jolla Recreation Center on a sunny December day.
People enjoy a nearby bench at the La Jolla Recreation Center on a sunny December day.
Inscription on the bench is from Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses. I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings.
Inscription on the bench is from Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses. I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings.
A beautiful work of art remembers San Diego journalist and philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps.
A beautiful work of art remembers San Diego journalist and philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps.

Here are several photos I took at a later time…

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I wrote a short story about a girl gazing into a fountain. Would you like to read it? To feel a mixture of joy and sadness, click here.

Published by

Richard Schulte

Downtown San Diego has been my home for many years. My online activities reflect my love for writing, blogging, walking and photography.

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