Foundation Pledges Another $500,000, Banks $150,000 to YMCA Park
The Corydon Democrat
Wednesday, December 3, 2003The late Gov. Frank L. O’Bannon will be memorialized as part of the YMCA of Harrison County, following a contribution by the Harrison County Community Foundation, Community First Bank and First Harrison Bank.
The Foundation, which has already contributed $2.3 million to the YMCA project, announced yesterday plans to give an additional $500,000 to the Y facility, now nearly 50 percent complete in northeast Corydon, and the sports park property located directly south of the building.
Community First and First Harrison banks will each match up to $75,000 toward the O’Bannon memorial.
“We’re inviting the community to join in our memorial gift,” said Sam Eckart, president of Community First Bank. “Whatever gifts are given, up to $150,000, will be matched by Community First and First Harrison.
“The banks’ $150,000 contribution could double to $300,000 and give this community’s youth a fitting memorial to our governor and his roots in Harrison County,” he added.
Both banks have supported the YMCA with earlier donations, $60,000 from First Harrison and $50,000 from Community.
“Our governor and friend grew up across the creek from the Keller property,” where eight soccer fields and six baseball/softball diamonds are nearing completion, said Gordon Pendleton, chair of both the Harrison County Community Foundation and First Harrison Bank’s holding company. “This was part of his boyhood, and this project will preserve a part of what made this community a great place for him as a child.”
O’Bannon, who was in the third year of his second term as governor, died Sept. 13 at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. He had suffered a massive stroke five days earlier while preparing to give the opening remarks at the U.S. Midwest-Japan Conference. He was 73.
Pendleton said he spoke to the late governor’s widow, Judy O’Bannon, Monday night about the Foundation’s decision.
“She said she was honored, and knew that Frank would feel that way, too,” he said. “She also expressed her regard for the Keller family, and hoped that they too would be honored at the park.”
Jerry Reinhardt, president of the YMCA board, has suggested naming the eight soccer fields “Keller Fields at Frank O’Bannon Park” and to include “a nice display about the Keller and O’Bannon heritage in our community.”
The YMCA had initially planned to name the 44-acre site the Keller Sports Park after signing an agreement early last year with Keller Manufacturing Co. to lease the property, at a cost of $1, for 35 years. The property had been used many years by the Harrison County Youth Soccer Association and Harrison County Ministerial Association for soccer and softball.
But a few months ago, after undergoing a change in top management, a struggling Keller Manufacturing said it needed to sell the acreage now.
Catherine Turcotte, executive director of the YMCA of Harrison County, said yesterday the exact name of the park has not been determined, but it will be something along the lines of “Frank O’Bannon Park.”
The decision to rename the sports park came after much discussion among community leaders, she said.
“People were looking for a way to remember Frank O’Bannon,” Turcotte said. “We understand that the (late) governor’s grandmother was a Keller. The O’Bannons and the Kellers are strong families who wove the fabric of the community we all love.”
Turcotte, who has been a driving force behind getting a recreational facility for Harrison County, said yesterday that fund-raising has been “a constant thought” for her since February 2001.
“We feel incredibly blessed,” Turcotte said. “A month ago, I shared with our board of directors a feeling of great adversity. We had nearly $1 million to raise, and although I believed it was possible, I did not know how.
“Now we know how, and the how is what we love about Harrison County ... everyone who could make a difference came together to get the job done,” she said.
After last month’s $100,000 donation from William and Gayle Cook and this week’s contributions from the HCCF and First Harrison and Community First banks, all that remains to be pledged is the $150,000 to match the banks’ donations.
The Harrison County Community Foundation was established in 1996 to receive and distribute funds generated by Caesars Indiana through its gaming revenue.
To date, 450 individuals, families and businesses have made pledges to the YMCA project.
Turcotte said the YMCA plans to sell the Friends of Harrison County Youth the acreage that is being developed for the baseball and softball complex. The Y has offered to sell the land at $11,363 per acre, which is the price the YMCA is paying Keller Manufacturing Co. for the land. It is anticipated that the Friends will purchase about 15 acres for its six ball diamonds.
To make a memorial gift to the YMCA of Harrison County in memory of Frank O’Bannon, either for the facility or the soccer fields, make your check payable to YMCA of Harrison County, P.O. Box 156, Corydon, IN 47112.
Persons interested in donating in the late governor’s honor for the baseball/softball program, should send checks to: Friends of Harrison County Youth, P.O. Box 811, Corydon, IN 47112.