To honor the memory of the late Wendy (Hansen) Fandre, a University of Minnesota Duluth basketball forward during the mid-1990s, a Norwegian maple tree was planted just outside of Fandre's one-time hoops home -- Romano Gymansium -- Thursday afternoon (July 16).

About three dozen family members and former teammates were on hand at the planting. Fandre, who died this past January at the age of 35, was a four-year letterwinner with the Bulldogs and captained UMD as a senior in 1995-96. Her husband, Clay Fandre, also played basketball at UMD.

"Everytime our basketball alums come back to campus, they'll now have reminder of Wendy ," said Fandre's coach at UMD and current Bulldog assistant athletic director Karen Stromme. " A group of Wendy's teammates -- Jodi (Ierino) Paulson, Kristi (Duncan) Plante, Karyn Shold and Sue (Fiero) Newton -- came up with the idea to plant a tree,  a Tree of Life,  and they also plan on recognizing Wendy next January at the annual Alumni Game."