STAYTON, Ore. (KPTV) – It was a memorable day in Stayton Thursday as the ribbon was cut for the new Ty Hart Memorial Fitness Center at Stayton High School.
620 days after groundbreaking and 185 donors, the Ty Hart Memorial Fitness Center is now open to Stayton High School students.
“This is a dream come true because my son Ty gave his life for his country,” said Ty Hart’s mother, Trina Hart. “His name will remain on this building forever and we hope his story will help other children understand the importance of sports, physical fitness and mental health. It will be talked about for generations.”
“When Ty went missing, this town came to us,” Trina said. “When we found out he wasn’t coming back, this little town came around us. When Ty came home wearing an American flag, the streets of this town were lined with flags and it was cold. So Ty went home and brought him home the right way.”
Corporal Lane Hart, a 2012 Stayton graduate, was killed in a maritime helicopter crash off the coast of Oahu during a night training mission in January 2016.
“It’s a really good lesson for the young people in our community to understand the reality of what kind of world we live in and why we live so freely because of people like Ty. ” said Trina.
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Ty’s mother, Trina, is a 1984 graduate of Stayton High School, and she, her husband Mike, and Ty’s older and younger siblings were able to sign Ty’s name on the wall of the new fitness center.
When asked if she could have imagined something like this, Trina replied: No kidding, we had a room that was probably 15 x 15 and there wasn’t much to train in, but we did train. ”
The training facility was 100% funded with support from the Stayton Booster Club and hundreds of man-hours from local businesses who provided labor, excavation, concrete and in-kind materials.
“Their name is apt, Heart, right? They’re doing it, and that’s special, because they always want to support adults, but for them it’s all about the kids. Because of that,” said North Santiam School District Superintendent Lee Loving. How can we help our kids, how can we honor our son’s legacy at the high school we love?”
Ty told his mother he wanted to be a Marine when he was in eighth grade, and went on to compete in football, wrestling, track and field, baseball and even cheer for the Stayton Eagles.
“I think if we can bring these kids here from a young age and get them away from screens and focus more on the machinery and equipment here, I think that’s going to be life-changing. It’s going to change again and help them… in a better direction,” said Randy Follett, a member of the Stayton High School Booster Club.
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Busloads of students have been able to continue playing sports thanks to the Ty Hart Memorial Scholarship.
“We provide scholarships to our student-athletes, we buy them equipment, we pay them if they want to play, but for some reason there are barriers and we have supported over $600,000 in eight and a half years for kids. But I want to do it.” Just to be really clear, the Heartstrong Foundation is not funding this and we want to help one athlete at a time. I didn’t touch those funds,” Trina said.
“It shows the importance of this building and a great guy like him is the reason why things like this are happening. His name is on it,” said Ethan Wheeldon, a senior at Stayton High School. spoke. “Every time I come here, it motivates me to come here and work hard because he gave everything he had for this country,” Stayton High School senior Tanner Starbuck said.
“I hope this piece inspires them to reach further and go to the gym instead of drugs, alcohol, partying, etc. This piece inspires them to set their own goals and do better. Give him the motivation to do things and see that yes, you’re from a small town in Stayton, Oregon, but eight and a half years later he’s doing big things, so you can do big things. I think so,” Trina said.
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