After more than six years of hoping and 25 years of improvising, Los Gatos reformed Jewish Congregation Shir Hadash finally has a memorial wall of its own.

On June 13, the 25-year-old congregation celebrated the opening of its long-awaited outdoor memorial garden and wall. The memorial provides congregation members with a place to remember deceased relatives, said Rabbi Melanie Aaron of Shir Hadash.

The memorial, designed by artists Richard Deutsch of Davenport and Larry Kirkland of Washington, D.C., differs from those at most synagogues.

"This is a traditional wall in certain ways and also innovative. It's not every synagogue that will have a outdoor wall," Aaron said.

Unlike memorial walls that are generally inside and often dark, the wall at Shir Hadash is circular, open and bright.

Irving Olender, chairman of the memorial garden and wall, said the temple did this because there was not enough open space inside, said Olender.

"It is warm and vital, yet serene and dignified," Olender said.

Hoping to see the names of their relatives engraved on the imported granite stone, more than 150 congregation members attended the memorial dedication.

At the ceremony, Aaron said that she was moved as she watched a young child feel the stone where a family member's name was engraved.

"I was very touched to see some of the younger kids touch the names. It shows that they have a sense of what this is all about," Aaron said.

At the center of the memorial is a garden with an olive tree, a Biblical symbol of longevity and lineage.

"There is the sense that what we do is not just for the short term," Aaron said.

Shir Hadash is planning for the next generation by setting up an endowment fund for its children. "It's a sense of the past building for the future," Aaron said.

In fact, it is because of the past generation that the memorial was finished. Oldender said planning began in 1998. After the economy dwindled in 2001, so did the push for the memorial. Without a way to fund the memorial, the congregation decided to put the project on hold.

But when two congregation families, the Bookeys and Letweens, donated the $300,000 to make the memorial possible, plans began to develop again.

The memorial, which has room for more than 900 names, now has about 140 names engraved.

Congregation member Saul Kline, who attended the ceremony on June 13, looked at the names of his nine deceased relatives on the stones.

"I'm the last of the Mohicans," said Kline, a Los Gatos resident. He said he is impressed with the design of the memorial.

"It's outstanding. There is a lot of creativity," he said.

Fellow congregation member Lareen Jacobs also attended the ceremony, in part to see the finished memorial, which was completed only hours before the service, but also to honor her parents' memory.

"It's an inner feeling. You can tell the memorial came from a deep place. I'll enjoy it," Jacobs said.