The Sophia Snow Place senior living community in Roslindale held a celebration and grand opening of the Bud and Betty Hanson Restorative Garden last Wednesday to a crowd of about 100 residents, family members, staff and well-wishers.

The parcel sits just south of Sophia Snow. Historically, it was a gas station, and then was put up for possible residential development some years ago before Sophia Snow purchased the site with nonprofit partners. The senior living facility then went through the arduous process of finding funding through the city’s Community Preservation Act (CPA) fund – it matches state funds and a property tax surcharge (that’s a percentage of your tax bill, not your assessment) to fund historic preservation, open space and recreation, or affordable housing – and has finally come to fruition.

The former gas station site needed a lot of work, but the vernal pool behind remains virtually untouched. Sophia Snow Executive Director Marilu Swett said remediating the gas station site took a lot of time, testing and work, but it was worth it to get the site to where it is now.

“It was a complicated process with different city entities involved,” she said. “All the permitting and surprises along the way with soil composition and other problems to be solved, it took longer than I certainly anticipated, but the challenges were exciting too, and the team was so positive.”

The park features a garden space in the front with a winding accessible ramp in the back, leading up to the back of Sophia Snow to connect with the Boston Urban Wilds Allandale Woods. The vernal pool behind the site is now completely protected, Swett said, and will remain so for the foreseeable future.

“It’s exciting to partner with the City of Boston to do right by the vernal pool,” she said. “It’s one of four vernal pools certified in the city, and to get rid of the invasive plants and restore the garden to native plantings was very exciting to everybody, including the residents, many of whom know quite a bit about gardening and plants.”

There were several speakers throughout the afternoon detailing the work and the expertise that went into the garden. The park’s namesake, Earling “Bud” Hanson, perhaps had the most loved speech. He said he was honored to have the park open for residents and the public to use.

“I asked Betty if she wanted to participate in addressing this group, and she said, ‘No, it’s all in your hands,’” he said. “After all the speeches you’ve heard today addressing what this is all about, what really can I say? I know what I can say with this crowd of wonderful people, not just residents, but those who know and love Sophia Snow House: WOW!”

This elicited cheers from all gathered.

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“That’s my speech, thank you so much for being here; what an honor for Betty and myself,” he said to laughter from the crowd. “Thank you.”

Bud and Betty’s grandson John Hanson, also director of operations at Boston Property Development, said he was proud to be a part of the effort. He said his grandfather has served on the Sophia Snow Board for more than 35 years, including Board Chair, and Betty served on the Board of Directors for more than four years, including as chair of the governance committee.

“One of her final actions was to nominate me to the Board, and now I have become the third generation to serve the organization,” he said. “Together they played an active role in the organization’s expansion and in the construction of the building currently right behind us.”

Anderson Construction owner Fred Anderson said he felt this project was the completion of a dream that he wanted to be a part of since he heard about it.

“The dream was to create a place where residents of Sophia Snow could exercise, find a quiet moment to reflect with themselves or simply enjoy being with others,” he said. “It was an opportunity to bring new life to a space that had been unused and open it up to the surrounding community.”

For more information on the garden and the Sophia Snow, go to https://www.sophiasnowplace.org