It’s not a big deal, Kelly Rodman says.
Rodman is responsible for the several benches and a chair that dot the walkway around Nexen Beach.
He finds pieces of waste wood in the course of his work running an excavator, brings them home, and gives them new life.
Some pieces became a sturdy picnic table in his backyard, others he formed into the benches for the waterfront.
“If I find some nice wood, I bring it home, rather than throw it in the bin,” said Rodman, 52.
He started making benches for the waterfront in about 2012. Working with his stepchildren, he began with a single bench and a chair that he placed by the dilapidated dock on the southeast side of the beach.
“Every time we went down there, you’d see somebody sitting on them,” Rodman said. “It made me feel pretty good and made me want to build more.”
So he did.
On Sunday, surveying his handiwork, Rodman said the seats aren’t in as good shape as they were when he installed them. Weather and frequent use has taken a toll on the beach furniture, but a young couple enjoying time at Nexen that day didn’t seem to mind as they sat on the original bench to take in the ocean view.
Rodman has carved the date and the names of each of his stepchildren into the benches – ones for Olivia, 11, Dylan, 9, and Malcolm, 6.
He has never sought recognition for his contributions, which he says are “not a big deal.”
A few weeks ago, a bench went missing, one that had his and his girlfriend Tanya’s names carved into it.
The bench was behind the sandy part of the beach, he said.
“Me and Malcolm put it in there,” he said, adding that they dug the bench into the ground so it wouldn’t have been as easy to move as some of the others.
He took to social media to try to find out what happened, but the bench seems to have vanished.
Malcolm was upset at the theft, but it was a life lesson for the boy.
“He was a little choked, but I told him some people do that stuff,” Rodman said. “I told him I am glad the other ones stayed down there for three years now.”
The theft hasn’t deterred Rodman from continuing his work.
“No, no, no. If I still get scrap stuff I will bring it down there,” he said adamantly. “You betcha.”
He noted he may make future benches much harder to remove.
And if his contributions have to go once construction is in full swing on the oceanfront development, that won’t bother him either, Rodman said.
“If they’ve got to go, they’ve got to go,” he said.
“That is just the way it is. Until then, if somebody enjoys them, it kind of makes me happy, and that is what they are there for.”
