Park workers clear path for elderly man so he can continue daily walk to his late wife’s bench

There’s a lot of snow-shovelling going on today in Ontario and Atlantic Canada, with most of us just trying to get out of our driveways.

When a recent snowfall blanketed a Wisconsin park, one man just wanted to take his daily walk to visit his favourite bench. Thanks to the kindness of two park employees, he’ll be able to do that for the rest of the winter.

Every day, Wisconsin widower Bud Caldwell, 82, drives to Lakeside Park in Fond Du Lac, then walks along a path to a park bench that he dedicated to his late wife, Betty, to tell her about his day. And every day, he leaves her one penny and one daisy, in honour of their favourite songs: “Pennies from Heaven” and “Daisy a Day.”

“It felt like the natural thing to do,” Caldwell told WDJT.

After a recent snowfall filled in the path, however, Caldwell was unable to make his daily trip to his favourite bench. He had tried to walk through the snow in a previous year and fell. So instead of walking to the bench, he sat inside his car and spoke to her from there instead.

Fortunately park employees Jerrod Ebert and Kevin Schultz noticed Caldwell’s absence and stepped in to help, shovelling the path to his beloved bench.

“We have to make sure he can get to his bench and talk to his wife,” Ebert said.

“Two young men did such a nice thing for one old man,” Caldwell told WDJT, adding that the men have promised to clear the path for him all winter so he won’t have to miss out on leaving a penny and a daisy for his wife.