Family and friends plant a tree to honor a young girl killed in an accident one year ago. Nine year old Eleanor Huff died May 19, 2007, after she was hit by a car near her Sioux City home. As Reporter Denise Hnytka tells us, on Monday, they remember the life of the girl they call Ella. 

Samantha Huff shovels dirt over the white swamp oak tree that will grow in memory of her daughter Ella. Family and friends huddle together to remember her life and death, one year ago. "She would have loved this," explains Ella's dad, Ed. "She would have loved being around all these people, and if she knew it was for her, she would have gone nuts."

Ella loved the spotlight. In this photograph, she walks the red carpet at a Hollywood theme party, they way her family remembers she usually got around, barefoot. "I always think of this time of the year, as barefoot time of the year," remembers one relative. 

With each memory, they tie a colorful ribbon on the tree's branches. Their tears mix with laughter. "We love her. We miss her."

The tree overlooks a hill in Sioux City's Grandview Park. It's a fitting memorial for a girl who loved the outdoors.

"We wanted to have something that was growing and living to kind of show Ella's enthusiasm for life," said Jonie Vondrak, Home School Assistance Program Director.

"The organization called, and they said, 'What about a tree?'," explains Ella's Mom Samantha. "And I told her that's more perfect than I could have dreamt up on my own."

Her memory firmly planted, they release balloons into the sky. It's a message to Ella that she'll never be forgotten.

Ella's family is a member of the Home School Assistance Program, so the organization provided a plaque to place next to the tree. The City of Sioux City donated the white swamp oak.