Park Bench Memorial Program Laid to Rest

A municipal program that allowed residents to pay $700 to dedicate a park bench and resulted in a slew of public memorials came to a close when two longtime residents bought the last seat.

City officials say more than 70 seats at Main Beach and Heisler Park were sold in the project, which was once derided by a councilman who said participants were turning the seats into “tombstones.” Most bench sponsors have placed plaques on them in memory of loved ones.

“Unfortunately, that’s the end of it,” said City Treasurer Susan A. Morse, noting that requests to sponsor benches keep coming in.

Councilman Neil G. Fitzpatrick, who was particularly irked that many of the plaques were inscribed with birth and death dates, said he is relieved the program is finally over.

“They’re going to have to bury them someplace else now,” he said.

After Fitzpatrick complained last year that the city’s parks were starting to look like cemeteries, Morse said the city raised the dedication fee from $350 to $700, but orders kept coming in.

The idea to dedicate park benches began nine years ago when the city published a gift catalogue. It suggested ways citizens could make tax-deductible donations.

Options ranged from buying a $160,000 fire engine to a $40 trash container.

But the bench, Morse said, was the most popular.

“Sometimes it’s very, very sad,” Morse said. “Most of the people wanted a particular bench. Maybe that’s where their father sat and watched the sunset, or that’s where the son played basketball.”

John and Roberta Strotkamp, who bought the last bench with their two grown sons, say, however, that their seat will simply be dedicated to other beach lovers.

They, too, had longed for the perfect location, one overlooking the ocean. But the only bench left was one that faces the playground at the south end of Main Beach. And the Strotkamps are happy to have it.

“You can always sit sideways,” Roberta Strotkamp said.