The Sadlers lost their only child, Kyle Braxton Sadler, 21, in a car crash Dec. 10, 2008. They are among the parents on the founding board of directors of the park.
"I get off work at 3 p.m. and I come here, usually Tuesday and Wednesday, to work on the landscape or benches," Greg Sadler said.
On weekends, the couple often can be found weeding and cleaning up at the park, using their own truck, trailer and equipment. A 25-foot-tall magnolia tree is dedicated to Kyle, with the words "Our Life, Our Love, Our Son" on a plaque.
Memorials, such as live oak and magnolia trees, benches and engraved stones, all marked with inscribed plaques, are available for adoption by parents, grandparents, siblings and others as a way to honor the child's memory.
The five-acre memorial park, with a waterfall, reflecting pond and butterfly garden, is part of Ocala's Jervey Gantt Park and includes an extension loop of the larger park's walking trail.
A park brochure explains that the venue was founded by two mothers — Holly Sadler and Sharon Lindsey, the mother of Devon Hime — who lost their sons in separate automobile accidents in 2008, in an effort to help other families and the community deal with the loss of a child.
Hime, 19, died Jan. 26, 2008, in an automobile crash at Jumbolair Aviation Estates in which Isaac Rubin, 20, Joshua Ammirato, 18, Dustin J. Dawe, 19, and Jacob James Casey, 19, also perished.
Hime is remembered at the park with a memorial bench and a 25-foot-tall magnolia tree. The plaque on the bench reads: "If Love Could Have Saved You, You Would Have Lived Forever."
Kelley Wilson, Rubin's mother, said the park is a "place of happy memories. I stop often on my way to work." She said she helps monthly on cleanup and work days, and finds the park to be a place of solace.
The notion of a small park grew tremendously, thanks to community support that included in-kind services, volunteer labor, an Eagle Scout project, small and large donations, and a $10,000 personal check from actors and Marion County residents John Travolta and Kelly Preston, in honor of their late son, Jett.
An ornamental entrance gate is dedicated to the memory of Richard Allen Chandler II by his family. The gate lists the Sadlers, Sharon and Gary Lindsey, and Yvonne and Ted Adams as the founding board of directors of the park, which was dedicated Sept. 24.
"Working at the park has actually brought Holly and I closer together," Greg Sadler said. "We worked together to raise Kyle, and now we are working together to honor him. The park is a place for families and bonding."
"Kyle was working with UPS and American Eagle clothing and going to CF part-time," he added. "He played football at Belleview High School. He was a good kid, not perfect. He always wanted to be the life of the party. It's supposed to be the grandfather and then father and then son dies, in order."
"Parents should never have to bury their child," Holly Sadler said. "Kyle was Greg's best friend."
Deb and Joe Azure and their granddaughter Faith, 12, were at the park recently to check on the bench and tree dedicated to their daughter and Faith's mother, Union County Sheriff's Deputy Renee Danell Azure, who was three months pregnant with baby Azure Johns when they both perished in an on-duty car accident Aug. 6, 2002.
The bench plaque is inscribed: "Forever in Our Hearts."
"We picked this spot because it overlooks the waterfall and you can hear it," Deb Azure said. "Renee and her baby will not be forgotten."
Holly Sadler pointed out an area of the park for sitting at the reflection pond.
"You can just tell when you see someone here who is thinking of a lost loved one," she said.
The pond is home to at least four catfish, one named Faith.
"He looks a little battered," Holly said. "You might say he represents a lot of those who visit the park. Their faith is scarred, but still intact."
