Members of the Palmerton Area High School Class of 1968 surprised their classmate Wednesday afternoon with a dedication in his honor at their alma mater.

“They totally surprised me,” Terry Heiney, a retired custodian at the high school said. “I thought I was supposed to come out to talk about mulch.”Heiney’s classmates, family and former boss, along with some teachers, staff and Superintendent Scot Engler, gathered in the courtyard to unveil a weatherproof table to acknowledge his hard work and contributions.The table is the second one of its kind in the high school courtyard under the large pergola Heiney built.For more than 20 years, Heiney worked for the Palmerton Area School District Facilities Department.He took care of the high school and one day decided that the school’s overgrown courtyard should be restored.Heiney asked his boss, Joe Faenza, if he and his wife could volunteer their time cleaning up the courtyard.“The kids weren’t allowed out here,” Heiney said, because of the condition of the courtyard.Faenza, the school district facilities director, said yes.“Prior to Terry doing this, there was nothing out here,” Faenza said. “He was one of the greatest workers I ever had.”Heiney and his wife, Karen, put their landscaping interest to work on the courtyard where vegetation had become thigh high, he said.The space was unusable. Trees had been planted next to the sidewalks, which buckled the concrete. They were removed, stumps ground out and the sidewalk repositioned.“Forty tons of stone and topsoil was wheelbarrowed into the courtyard,” Heiney said. “Teachers and students from the wood shop classes helped bring in the wheelbarrow loads.”The material was used to regrade the yard and create edging, and several teachers and students stepped forward to volunteer their time in the landscaping work.Over the span of a couple of years, Heiney constructed a lattice-work arch for clematis and honeysuckle to climb.A couple of birdbaths sit among vegetation in side gardens and birdhouses — all built by Heiney — dot the brick walls.“It’s a beautiful view from the windows,” Faenza said.The restored green space is now frequented by students during study halls and lunch breaks, he said.Heiney said he hopes the space will be used by the students for many years to come.“We want to get some lights out here so people can make use of it at night,” he said. “I’d also like to have more student involvement out here in regards to the care.”Although Heiney is retired and lives some of the year in Florida, he still volunteers his time caring for the courtyard.School and alumni groups also help to keep the courtyard beautiful.For instance, the Environmental Club raised money, the Class of 1952 donated money and stone for the flower beds, and the Class of 2013 donated a garden bench.