94-Year-Old Installed a Neighborhood Pool After His Wife Died to Fill His Yard with Laughter

Ninety-four-year-old Keith Davison is extraordinary, especially to the little kids in his neighborhood. He recently had a large pool installed in his backyard intended for the public. And when he built it, you can be sure that they came.

Keith’s wife, Evy, died of cancer in April of last year. The couple had been married for 66 years, and after Evy passed, Keith couldn’t bear the silence. So unbearably saddened by his loss, Keith decided that he wanted to fill his backyard with laughter. Since his three adult children had no children of their own, he decided that installing a pool would be a great way to entertain the local children. And the pool he installed is pretty spectacular: it is 32-feet-long, with a 9ft. deep end, complete with a diving board.

According to Scary Mommy,

“It’s him spreading joy throughout our neighborhood for these kids,” [neighbor, Jessica] Huebner said.

While Davison has a rule that no child can use the pool without a parent or grandparent present, more often than not, he’s in his lawn chair in the shade nearby, watching the kids splash and letting their laughs and games fill the silence that used to be in his life. And after all the kids go home, sometimes he’ll take a dip himself. Economically, he admits it didn’t make any sense to build a pool in his backyard at 94 years old. But that wasn’t the point, he added.

“I’m not sitting by myself looking at the walls,” he said. “What else would you think of doing where you could have a whole bunch of kids over every afternoon?”