Staff writer
Just in time for Octoberfest, the city park in Lincolnville has a new set of play equipment for youngsters to enjoy.
The new equipment is the result of a gift of $12,000 from the estate of Irma (Pagenkopf) Levy. It is geared to 2- to 12-year-olds and includes a composite set of slides, a teeter-totter, and a double-seated bouncer.
Levy died in May. She was a sister of the late Lloyd Pagenkopf, who lived his whole life in the Lincolnville community.
“Irma never had children, and she always wanted to help people,” Brad Pagenkopf said.
Brad is Lloyd’s grandson and lives on his grandfather’s home place two miles north of Lincolnville. In their later years, Lloyd and Beth Pagenkopf lived in Lincolnville next to the park, and Levy was familiar with the park from visits to the Pagenkopfs.
Ray Pagenkopf of Boise, Idaho, a brother to Lloyd and Irma, was executor of Levy’s estate.
According to Sherri Pankratz, parks and recreation chairman on the Lincolnville City Council, Ray contacted her after he read a report in the Marion County Record that donations were needed to purchase new playground equipment in the park.
Pankratz said Ray saw this as an opportunity to give something back to the community in which he and his brothers and sisters were raised.
The new playground incorporates an older slide and is bordered by PVC pipe. The area is covered with rock. It is ADA accessible.
Pankratz said Yvonne Burhoop of Burdick helped her plan the playground. Diepenbrock Farms did the dirt work, and Steve Svoboda removed a tree and tree stump.
Fred Hayen and Zach and Dave Remmers helped Pankratz in assembling and erecting the equipment and spreading the rock. CPI of Hillsboro donated two yards of cement to anchor the equipment.
Pankratz said more plans are in the offing to continue to improve the park and to include equipment for use by older children.
Mark Pagenkopf II and his wife, Julie, live in his grandparents’ house in Lincolnville.
Along with many other children, their 9-month-old daughter, Marlie, is sure to enjoy the new playground equipment as she gets older.