SEQUIM — Wendall Lorenzen was just 13 when his father, Arndt, died of cancer in June.
But the Boy Scout, Sequim Middle School eighth-grader and honor student pushed straight ahead in life, building a pocket park on Olympic Discovery Trail in East Sequim with help from the community.
The son of City Councilwoman Susan Lorenzen dedicated his Eagle Scout project to his dad.
Father used trail
“I was doing all this Eagle Scout stuff before he died, and he used this trail and he would walk the dog by here,” Wendall said.
“We used this part of the trail a lot since we live so close.
“And there’s no place to sit down and eat or rest, so we wanted to build it here.”
Today, atop a concrete slab connected to the trail stands a green metal picnic table built to comply with Americans with Disabilities Act wheelchair-accessible standards.
Next to the table is a funky bike rack in the shape of a bike like those around downtown.
The rack was donated by the city of Sequim.
Remembers father
In one corner of the pad is a bronze plaque, placed in memory of his father, who was a 69-year-old retired meteorology section manager for the California Air Resources Board when he died.
The trail stop is surrounded by wild rose bushes with views of the foothills and the city’s future Keeler park and wildlife reserve site across U.S. Highway 101.
It all started when Wendall, a Scout since he was 8, approached his Boy Scout Troop 1101 Scoutmasters Bob Kelvel and Mark Eveland about the project.
They gave his idea their stamp of approval.
There is only one other pocket park like it, which is near Sequim Valley Airport’s Olympic Discovery Trail stretch in Carlsborg, about five miles west.
Wendall tried to locate it at John Wayne Marina originally, but there was no space available.
That’s when he chose the existing site, with the city’s approval.
Sold lemonade
He raised $200 for the project by selling lavender lemonade on weekends at the entrance to the family’s driveway on Bellbottom Road, which leads to Purple Haze Lavender Farm.
Wendall has been selling lavender lemonade there since 2006.
After he did the math to figure out how much concrete he needed for the pad, Wendall approached Thomas Building Center, which sold the concrete to him at cost.
Liking his project plan, Mike’s Bikes in Sequim and Peninsula Trails Coalition made donations along with other private donors, which ultimately helped Wendall raise $1,150 to cover project costs.
Now 14, the Eagle Scout is not stopping with his projects.
Carrying on in a Scouting tradition of one good deed leading to another, Wendall is helping his fellow Scout and pal Michael McMurray with his Eagle Scout project, an information kiosk at Railroad Bridge Park at the Dungeness River, on the other side of Sequim.
“I think the thing that impresses me the most is his attitude,” his mother said, explaining why she is proud of her son’s project and positive lifetime thumbprint left on the community.
“He’s got a good attitude.”
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Reporter Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
