Group seeks to honor Carter Nall with new playground

by Matt Hughes

J-E News Editor

A group of Webster County residents are looking to turn a horrible tragedy into a blessing.

Friends and family of three-year-old Carter Nall are looking to create a fitting memorial to a little boy who was lost too young. There will be a playgroundbuilt at the Providence Church of Christ that will not only bear his name, but will also include playground equipment that the family know he would have loved.

“This is for the youth of the church,” said Jill Nall, Carter’s mother. “It’s in memory of Carter, but it’s for the kids.”

Plans for the playground include a play set that looks like a John Deere tractor, and a sandbox made from a tractor tire.

“We have to have the tractor tire,” Nall said. “We had recently spent a lot of money to put in a nice play set at our house with a slide and a rock wall. We also got a free tractor tire and filled it with sand. That’s where Carter stayed. He would stay in that for hours, and then track sand all over the house.”

Chip Palmer, the minister at the Church of Christ, said that while he really can’t explain where the idea for the playground got started, he’s pretty sure the idea took root the night before Carter’s funeral.

“I sat down and talked with Jill, Rob and Rob’s parents,” Palmer explained. “I had mentioned that they might think about fixing up a playground or something in his honor. It just kept coming up how much he had loved to play and how much he loved tractors.”

“He was outside all the time,” Jill Nall said.

“A playground really sounds like a fitting memorial to him,” Palmer said.

Doug Hammers, a Church of Christ member and a contractor, is serving as chairman of a committee devoted to making this dream into a reality.

“We’re not begging for money,” Hammers said. “Were just hoping that there are people out there who would like to help memorialize a very special little guy. He was so full of energy.”

Hammers went on to say that they hope to have funding for the park completed in time to start construction in the spring. Currently about half of the money is available.

A fund has been set up at Independence Bank for anyone wishing to donate, or they can contact the church directly at 270-667-2852.