Kool Kidz Splash brings harmony
Noble playground honors 5-year-old who was killed
Noble playground honors 5-year-old who was killed

By Heather Warlick

Published: July 17, 2008

NOBLE — As Southwind Senior Village residents tend their gardens, children splash and frolic in a nearby water playground in Dane Park.

The water playground honors a boy who never had a chance to play in it. Austin Haley's Kool Kidz Splash is dedicated to Austin Haley, 5, who was accidentally killed in August by a local police officer trying to shoot a snake.

"It's nice because we know that we can go there and see the other kids playing and know that Austin is staring down on them,” said Jack Haley, 36, Austin Haley's father.

Austin's mother, Renee Haley, 31, enjoys the serenity of the park.

"It brings the community together — with the younger kids playing and the older people planting, it makes a very peaceful environment,” she said. "The older people enjoy watching the kids play, and the kids enjoy watching them plant.”

While Austin's splash pad is a comfort for the family he's left behind, it also provides joy for the senior citizens who work under the hot sun nurturing tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and other vegetables growing in their small garden plots. The community created the garden plots after the city received a letter from Ophelia Boggs, 73, asking for a small part of the park where Noble residents could grow their own food.

"It's nice late in the evening when the sun goes down and before the splash pad closes,” said Dorothy Ponder, 79, a resident of the senior village.

"We all get out there and watch (the kids) play and we pick what we have to pick and we just sit there and gab. It's fun to watch those little ones. They're the cutest things,” Ponder said.

The park opened in April; this is the first summer for the splash pad and the first growing season for the gardens.

The park's community garden contains 11 raised gardens, the materials for which were donated by various local companies and many of the garden's seeds and plants were donated by the Regional Food Bank.

A local Boy Scout troop built the grapevine trellis, while volunteers raised the gardens, about 12 inches and most 24 inches for easy access.

The senior village residents eat most of their garden-grown vegetables but the gardens produce so much that they sell the extras from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays at the Noble Farmer's Market at the City Hall building on U.S. 77.

"Last Saturday, we made $16,” said Gladys Gilchrist, 83, a resident gardener.

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