Perryville Lions Club, city build splash pad

Perryville Mayor John Roland, left, speaks with Tommy Park of Perryville and his sister Sharon Marcum of Little Rock at the site of a splash pad under construction in the city park. The facility will be dedicated in memory of their father, Tom Park, who died in 2009 and was a leader in the community. Money for the Lions Club project, estimated at almost $80,000, is being paid for by the club, the state and the city.
Perryville Mayor John Roland, left, speaks with Tommy Park of Perryville and his sister Sharon Marcum of Little Rock at the site of a splash pad under construction in the city park. The facility will be dedicated in memory of their father, Tom Park, who died in 2009 and was a leader in the community. Money for the Lions Club project, estimated at almost $80,000, is being paid for by the club, the state and the city.

PERRYVILLE — A splash pad nearing completion in Perryville City Park will be dedicated in memory of Lions Club charter member Tom Park, who was “very well thought of” in the small community, the mayor said.

Mayor John Roland said the Perryville Lions Club started raising funds a few years ago to build the splash pad and recognize Park, a member and community do-gooder. Roland reeled off Park’s activities, including being a City Council member, volunteer ambulance driver and active member of the Perryville United Methodist Church.

“He was the FHA (Farmers Home Administration) supervisor here in the area, so a lot of underprivileged couples were able to get their home loan through him,” Roland said. “He’s just been a center point in the community.”

The 2,400-square-foot splash pad is being built between the bathrooms and the pavilion, Roland said. All the project lacks is for the concrete pad to be poured, he said, which he hoped would be done this week.

Although the mayor said he wished it had been completed earlier in the season, “it’s going to be a fantastic asset for the park.”

“I think it’s a plus — there are no public pools in Perry County that I’m aware of. This is the first water recreation outside of a lake for the public; it’ll be free [to use],” Roland said.

Roland said the project cost nearly $80,000 to build.

Andy Gill, president of the Perryville Lions Club, said his fellow club members have raised $13,000 for the project since 2010. State Sen. David Sanders, R-Little Rock, provided a $30,000 General Improvement Fund grant, and the city will kick in the remainder of the money, he said.

The idea of a splash pad came before the decision to dedicate it to the late Lions Club member, Gill said.

“We were just looking for something to have a visible project in the community to jump start” the small club, he said. Gill said only about six members attend meetings now, although more pay dues.

“We had several different ideas and the biggest one, and the one we latched onto, was trying to get a splash pad built at park,” Gill said.

He said Lions Club member Robert Trower suggested that the splash pad be dedicated in Park’s memory. “That came fairly early on,” Gill said.

He said Park was the most active member in the club for a long time. “He worked tirelessly to sell tickets to the pancake breakfast” and for other events, Gill said.

Gill said the park is well-maintained and gets a lot of use, “but it just gets so hot.” With no public swimming pool in the community, he said a splash pad will be a welcome addition to the park. He and his wife, Mandy, have two children, David, 7, and Lily, 9. “We’re really excited about it,” he said. “I think that is something that would be a draw to the park through the months that it gets less use.”

Park died in 2009, before Gill joined the club, he said, but they knew each other from the Perryville United Methodist Church.

One of Park’s two daughters, Cindy Hopper of Perryville, said she is excited about the project getting completed.

She said her father, who was 86 when he died, “was just involved in everything,” including serving as a volunteer firefighter. He was in the Army Air Corps during World War II, graduated from the University of Arkansas after the war, then went to work for the United States Department of Agriculture Farmers Home Administration, retiring after 36 years as county supervisor in Perry County. After he retired, he served as the Perry County tax assessor and performed appraisals.

Park’s son, Tommy Park, said his father was the 1997 recipient of the Melvin Jones Fellow Award for Dedicated Humanitarian Services, which was presented by the Lions Club.

“He was a Lion through and through; that’s something he really believed in,” Tommy Park said. “He believed in community. He did everything he could do to further the community and help people; he just loved people.”

Tommy Park said that when his father went to emergency-medical technician school in Camden when he was in his 60s, one of the requirements was rappelling down a tower. “Mother made him promise he wouldn’t rappel out of that tower, but he did,” Park said, laughing.

The elder Park served on the Perry County Fair Board for decades, working in any and all committees and jobs. He was also a member of the Perryville Planning and Zoning Commission. In 2000, the Perryville Masonic Lodge named Park Man of the Year for outstanding service to the community.

“He was very involved in sports with the kids,”

Hopper said. That’s why the splash pad makes sense to be in his memory, she said.

“Because my dad was so involved with the kids and with his grandkids, we have a really nice park; Daddy was always for anything for kids’ enjoyment, something for them to do,” she said.

Hopper said their mother, Lucy, died four years before their father; they were married 63 years and had three children.

Hopper said she, her brother and their sister, Sharon Marcum of Little Rock, all have grandchildren.

“It’s very neat; I’m really looking forward to it. I have four grandkids, … we’re all looking forward to taking our grandkids there,” Hopper said.

The plaque dedicating the splash pad to her father’s memory will be “on a big rock,” she said.

Gill said one fundraising project the Lions Club held was selling bricks for a sidewalk in the park, which is separate from the splash pad. He said about 35 bricks were sold in honor or memory of individuals, and the sidewalk will be built in the area near the rock with Park’s plaque.

Uncommon Communities, sponsored by the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute on Petit Jean Mountain, played a role in the project, too, Roland said. Uncommon Communities is a community and economic development initiative put on by the institute. The initiative began in August 2015 with a goal to train and empower leaders in five counties – Conway, Perry, Pope, Van Buren and Yell – to improve and enhance the quality of life and economic opportunities within their communities.

“When I became involved at the chamber in Uncommon Communities, that [park improvement] was a focus of what we could do to energize the community,” Roland said.

Gill, who also is chairman of the Perryville Chamber of Commerce board, said members are considering making Uncommon Communities a separate committee of the chamber. “We want the projects to be sustainable,” he said.

The park on Recreation Drive, which is visible from Arkansas 9, was a project of former mayor Kenneth Brandon, retired postmaster, Roland said. It opened in the 1990s, and it includes a quarter-mile walking trail, a playground, pavilion and open field.

Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.

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