94-yr-old retired judge felt lonely after wife’s passing—until one small change filled his home with neighborhood kids
Losing a spouse as an older person can make one feel really lonely. However, when a 94-year-old man lost his wife, he didn't want to "stare at the walls" all day. So the retired judge decided to come up with a solution to resolve his loneliness. The man from Morris, Minnesota, decided to install a pool in his backyard for the neighborhood kids. The former judge, Keith Davison, even managed to surprise all his neighbors with what he did, per KARE 11 News.
"You can't imagine what it's like," the former district court judge expressed after losing his wife in 2016. His house at Riverview Drive was inhabited only by him and was eerily quiet. Davison had been with his wife for 66 years. The man hadn't even moved his wife's wrist watch from the side table and cried a lot after her passing. He thought long and hard about what to do next and decided to install a pool in his backyard. The pool was 16 by 32 and soon enough, Davison's house was not as quiet anymore. "We are going to the judge's pool," the excited neighbors exclaimed. "I knew they would come," the judge added. The neighbors thought that the man was joking at first, so they were quite surprised when he actually got one.
A woman in the neighborhood saw the man marking his yard and told her husband, "He is really going to do it. He's really gonna put a pool in the backyard." Many of the neighbors came in with their kids every single day. "I am not sitting by myself, looking at the walls," Davison went on. "You know it's him spreading joy throughout our neighborhood for these kids. And you get to know him and talk to him and it's one of the things he talks about is I never had any grandkids," a neighbor, Jessica Huebner, revealed. "And so in a way we are like, well, you kind of adopted our whole neighborhood of kids." She went on, "These are your grandkids." Kids came up to thank the man for letting them use his pool.
The man had a pool fence installed and pointed out that a parent or a grandparent had to be present with the kid when they were using the pool. After the kids went home, Davison also enjoyed having pool time himself. In an update to the story six years later in 2023, Davison celebrated his 100th birthday and was still enjoying watching the kids play in his pool. The kids were still splashing around the pool as their parents kept Davison company on the deck. "I love being here," Beverley Metzker, a neighbor who showed up two to three times a week with her daughter, Zoe, remarked. The "judge's pool" was the only outdoor pool in the area at that time.
"It is a terrible business expense. But it is one of the best investments I ever made," Davison shared. The neighbors even decided to throw a party to celebrate the man's 100th birthday. The judge was the guest of honor and played his usual role, playing the tuba in the community band. "Thank you for enriching our lives with your goodness, love, generosity and wisdom," a neighbor said in her speech. "All I can say is that I am surrounded by friends. What more could you ask for?" Davison expressed. His cake also had a backyard pool design on top of it. The parents felt that their children had made core memories through the judge's backyard pool.
More on Amplify
Man decided to go on a dinner with stranger to battle loneliness—he wasn't ready for the outcome