City to honor late diver with splash park

The family of MASSILLON — the late Jake Roberson and the city of Massillon want to raise about $1 million to build a memorial splash park on the north side of Reservoir Park.

Roberson was a talented Washington High School springboard diver who earned a scholarship to Drexel University and later landed a gig as a team diver at Sea World.

His mother, Sharon, said the 2005 graduate of WHS started swimming in his early years at the YMCA, when he still rode in a car seat. Jake was so gifted in the water, he practiced with the high school dive squad while he was a middle school student.

“[ Jake] was a real Renaissance guy,” Sharon Roberson recalled. “He loved art, music and sports, and was loved by many.”

At age 25, while living in California, Jake was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, his mother said. Oftentimes, he would be irrational and not take prescribed medication for the mental illness, marked by wide shifts in mood, energy, thinking and behavior. It was during one of those difficult nights in January 2017, that Jake wandered into Pyramid Lake north of Los Angeles and drowned.

Jake’s body was discovered in the lake on Feb. 25, 2017. He was 30.

During a memorial service in the spring of 2017 at the high school, Mayor Kathy Catazaro-Perry suggested to the Roberson family that a splash park in Massillon would be a positive and long-lasting way to memorialize Jake. Sharon and Jake’s father, Philip, agreed.

“We were moved to tears that [the city] would want do that,” Sharon Roberson said. “It’s extremely touching and overwhelming.”

The mayor said she learned at the service that Jake not only loved the water, but he had a fondness for children. So the idea surfaced to construct and dedicate a splash park in the city.

“It’s a great way to memorialize Jake and allow families of Massillon to enjoy the water he so enjoyed,” the mayor said. “We want to help keep his memory alive.”

The city and Roberson family wants to honor Jake by jointly raising funds to build Jake Roberson Memorial Park on the northern section of Reservoir Park off of Phillips Road.

The location was chosen by family members due to its proximity to their Springhill Lane home.

The Massillon Parks and Recreation Board endorsed the notion in July when it voted 5-0 to support the effort. If constructed, the splash park would become part of Parks and Rec, according to Director Steve Pedro, who said the city does not plan to directly contribute financially toward the project.

However, the city will work to help the effort by seeking grant funding and personal and business donations to get the splash park built, Catazaro-Perry said.

Cost to construct the park is estimated at approximately $1 million, the mayor said, and a concept is being designed by OHM Advisors, which is the city’s contracted engineering firm. The park would be available for public use at no cost.

There is not a specific time for construction on the park to begin, Sharon Roberson said, adding that no fundraising plan has been finalized, either. The family met with Catazaro-Perry and Pedro in June to discuss the project.

A GoFundMe account is likely to be set up to assist with raising money for the park, Sharon Roberson said, and spaghetti dinners could also soon be planned.

Sharon Roberson noted that her son got to know his niece, Joan Laughary, of San Diego, before he died. It’s her hope that Joan will eventually play in the park named after her uncle.

“He got to meet his niece, so she’ll have a place to splash around, now,” Sharon Roberson said.