Rose Parade float to honor organ donors

Reg and Maggie Green and daughter Eleanor were hunkered down at a table inside Pasadena’s Rosemont Pavilion, staring at a picture of their son and brother, Nicholas Green.

It was no ordinary portrait of the 7-year-old, who made international headlines in 1994, when he was shot and killed in a botched highway robbery while vacationing with family in Italy. Seven Italians received his organs, saving or improving their lives.

Because it would adorn a float in the Rose Parade, the picture of the smiling little boy was rendered completely in organic materials.

“The freckles were a challenge,” Maggie Green said. “We didn’t know whether his freckles were more of a cinnamon color, coffee color or poppy seed, and how many? In the end, they were cinnamon.”

The Greens were part of a team of 200 volunteers from the Los Angeles, Ventura and San Diego County areas who this weekend completed the last of the 76 commemorative “floragraphs” -- floral portraits -- that will be placed on this year’s Donate Life Rose Parade float, said spokeswoman Paula Valle.

This is the seventh year the group has entered a float in the parade, but it is only the third time that floragraphs will be used to highlight the people who by their organ donations helped give life to others.

Families and recipients dressed in light blue shirts sat or huddled around tables Saturday, using paintbrushes to place craft glue on digital photographs of the donors, then sprinkling seeds and spices to create colorful shades.

The oval portraits will be integrated into the tail feathers of a phoenix, which on the float will rise from a bed of flames 30 feet high. Twenty-four people -- transplant recipients, living donors and family members of deceased donors -- will ride on the float, according to the Donate Life website and organizers.

Working from a second-grade photo of Nicholas, Maggie Green said she feels proud that her son will be among the 76 deceased donors to be honored on the float.

“I think it’s right that Nicholas is part of this group,” she said.

Nearby, Kristine Clemmons and Cathy Grinnan were working on a portrait of Trevor Frisch, Clemmons’ son, an infant who died in 1998 after being deprived of oxygen before birth.

“When his organs were shutting down, I started remembering what everyone said, how he had a strong heart, and I knew then somebody had to live,” Clemmons recalled. “I like to believe his purpose was to be here and save others.”

His liver went to a 6-month-old girl. His heart was an almost perfect match for Grinnan’s daughter, Hannah, who was then 11 days old.

“It was a solemn moment,” Cathy Grinnan said.

“We were relieved, but we also knew that this child had passed away.”

On Saturday the two mothers reminisced as they worked, occasionally laughing at jokes, while decorating the portrait of baby Trevor with craft glue and a variety of seeds.

“When I see the picture, when we’ve put the different colors and it begins to look like him, it’s amazing,” Grinnan said. “I’m pleased with it.”

Valle said the float is an important tool in Donate Life’s ongoing campaign.

“We want to educate the public nationally about becoming an organ or tissue donor through their stories,” Valle said.

Nearby, David Glassey, 61, of Ventura wore a yellow mask as he watched family members make final touch-ups to a portrait of Mario Pinedo.

Pinedo, of National City, died of an aneurysm on Feb. 24, 2006. He was 39 and had been married for only seven months, said his sister, Lupe Hernandez, 50, of San Diego County.

Pinedo had registered as an organ donor with the California Department of Motor Vehicles. His liver went to a retired California Highway Patrol officer. And his lungs were donated to Glassey, who for two years had suffered from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, which causes scarring or thickening of the lungs. Glassey said the lungs were the perfect size for him.

“I take good care of him,” Glassey said.

“There’s no word to describe the feeling.”

Glassey said he thinks often of Pinedo when he takes deep breaths. “Almost every day,” Glassey said. “I’m grateful . . . I’m still alive.”

ruben.vives@latimes.com