According to popular belief, you never truly recover from the loss of a loved one; you simply learn to live with it. This is undoubtedly true, and the pain is amplified when that loved one is your husband.
Keith Davison, a retired district court judge, was crushed when his wife Evy died of cancer in 2016 after 66 years of marriage. The loneliness was exacerbated by the deafening quiet in his Morris, Minnesota, house.
Keith has had a full life. He plays bass and tuba in local musical ensembles and served in the Army as a radio operator during WWII.
He had no one to talk to now that his wife was gone. He doesn’t have much else to do, either.
He had no one to talk to now that his wife was gone. He doesn’t have much else to do, either.
Keith came up with an unusual notion after living as a widower for almost a year: what if he constructed a pool in his backyard?
Keith, who was 94 at the time, built an in-ground pool in his backyard for the local youngsters to enjoy in 2017. His once-solitary home is now alive with the sounds of delighted squeals and laughing from youngsters!
The pool became the ideal solution for him to cope with his sadness while also bringing joy to others.
When it was finished in July 2017, it drew a large number of families to Keith’s backyard to escape the summer heat.
He said, “I knew they’d come.”
When he originally proposed the idea, his neighbors assumed he was kidding.
“This spring when I saw him marking the yard, I told my husband, he’s really going to put a pool in his backyard,” his neighbor Jessica Huebner said.
Jessica and her four children have been regulars at Keith’s pool when it first opened. Keith deserves praise for coming up with this idea, which has provided so much joy to so many children.
“It’s him spreading joy throughout our neighborhood for these kids,” she said.
Keith clearly went all out on his pool, which is 32 feet long and 9 feet deep under the diving board. His private pool was a welcome addition to the community because their tiny town lacked an outside public pool.
They’ll “be here every day,” according to Jaime Mundal, a local parent.
Keith is the father of three grown children, although he has no grandkids. But that isn’t an issue because he has more than made up for his loss of young vigor throughout his life.
“You kind of adopted our whole neighborhood of kids. These are your grandkids,” Jessica told him.
Keith sits on the sidelines, enjoying the view from his lawn chair, while scores of children joyfully leap into the water and play pool volleyball.
Keith, unlike other public pools, isn’t big on rules. He just has one stipulation: a parent or grandparent must be there when the children are swimming.
Of course, it won’t just be the youngsters who are having a good time. Keith stated that he enjoys swimming in the pool on occasion. This exercise is a wonderful method for a nonagenarian to unwind.
Keith has no regrets about constructing a pool in his backyard, despite the fact that it is not cost effective.
“I’m not sitting alone staring at the walls,” he explained. “Can you think of anything else you could do where you could have a lot of kids around every afternoon?”
Keith is definitely keeping his youth now that he has a group of individuals with whom he can mingle and spend time!
To see the neighborhood kids having fun in Keith’s pool, watch the video below.
