New bench at Kickapoo Creek Park honors Kennedy Freese

 

[May 14, 2021]   Wednesday morning the students of the Lincoln Community High School Woodworking class visited Kickapoo Creek Park with a special delivery. Two of the students, Niccolas Sundeen and Andrew McCray had been chosen by instructor Justin Dietrich to create a special bench that would be placed at the park in memory of Kennedy Freese.

On September 29, 2018 Kennedy lost her life in a single vehicle accident in the country north of Lincoln between Lincoln and Hartsburg. It was a devastating blow to her family and her friends. For quite some time, gifts and flowers were taken to the location of the accident. Then those friends and family were notified that the objects being left along the side of the road were a distraction to drivers and created an unsafe driving environment.

For one of Kennedy’s best friends, Anjelia Dominques this was heartbreaking. Wednesday she said that she had gone to the sight often to remember her friend and now the only thing that remains is the cross that marks the location of the accident.

Anjelia was well acqauinted with LCHS Coach Patrick Hake. She had told Hake how sad it was that she felt she could no longer go to the site to remember her friend. Hake agreed that it was sad, and that Kennedy’s friends needed a place where they could be alone with their thoughts and memories of their friend now lost.

Hake decided that there was a solution, a new place for meditation and quiet time could be established with the help of Dietrich and his class. Hake went to Dietrich with the idea of a park bench that could be placed at Kickapoo Park. He asked Dietrich to choose a couple of students whom he felt could get the job done. Dietrich chose Sundeen and McCray.



Wednesday the boys said that while they didn’t know Kennedy personally, they were happy to take on the project of paying tribute to the young woman. The guys said that with the coronavirus situation and limited time at school in the past year, it took them about seven months to complete the project, but when they brought it out to the park and set it up, the wait was well worth it.







The bench arrived at the park in pieces. It had been hand cut and carved from a tree that had been felled and deposited at the Lincoln landscape waste facility. The back and the seat were rough cut slices from a length of the tree trunk, its natural shape preserved to give it a very rustic look that fits well into the landscape at the park.

The arm rests of the bench were carved from smaller logs and the feet of the bench are actually two medium sized logs laid on their sides. All the pieces had been cut, smoothed and heavily coated with epoxy for safe sitting with no splinters and to prolong the life of the bench.



As the pieces were being unloaded and work to assemble the bench began, Anjelia arrived, along with Kennedy’s mom Amanda Chamberlain. For Chamberlain, it was an obviously emotional but happy day. She noted that she too had been deeply saddened when the memorial at the accident site had to be removed. But, she was happy to see the bench and to know that people still remember Kennedy and wanted to do something to keep that memory alive.

When the bench was assembled completely the last step was to mount a metal plaque on the front of the bench with Kennedy’s name on it.

The plaque is cut in the shape of a sunflower, which Anjelia said was Kennedy’s favorite flower.

Anjelia said that she was looking forward to coming to the park and spending time at the bench. She said that the park is a place where several of Kennedy’s friends visit, and she knows they will all appreciate the bench.

The bench was placed at the edge of the road leading into the park right at the first parking lot area.



Park Superintendent Joe Funk granted permission for the bench and was on hand to see it come together Wednesday morning. He said that the bench would be a welcome addition to the area and admired how it was built, saying that it fit well into the overall esthetic of the park. He also noted that the bench was being placed in a high traffic area where it will be seen and appreciated, and that it will also be safer in that location than it would have been deeper into the wood.





In addition to Kennedy’s mom and best friend, others were on hand to watch the installation. Some were friends of Kennedy and others were family members of Sundeen and McCray who made the bench.



When the bench was completed, Chamberlain and Dominques posed for a picture with Sundeen and McCray and thanked them for the effort they had put into making such an attractive and meaningful tribute to Kennedy.

[Nila Smith]