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Four longtime friends reunite to build boardwalk at Arti and Red’s Pond

T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY — From left to right, longtime friends Steve Cooper, Jim Carson, Roger Grimes and Bob Benson work on building a new boardwalk at Arti and Red’s Pond just off of Highway 330 between Marshalltown and Melbourne on Thursday afternoon. Benson, Cooper and Grimes are members of the MHS Class of 1966, and Carson, a Pennsylvania native, worked at Fisher Controls for about three years in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Nestled about eight miles southwest of Marshalltown just off of Highway 330 and its adjacent trail on the way to Melbourne, Arti and Red’s Pond is one of Marshall County Conservation Board’s (MCCB’s) hidden gems with deep, clear water and a secluded feel despite its proximity to such a bustling roadway. Soon, it will have a new boardwalk ready for public use thanks to the continuing generosity of four longtime friends — Bob Benson, Steve Cooper, Roger Grimes and Jim Carson.

Benson, Cooper and Grimes are all members of the MHS Class of 1966, and Cooper led the Bobcat basketball team to a state title before playing three years at Iowa State University and eventually earning a graduate degree from the Stanford University business school. Carson, a native of Pennsylvania and also a former college basketball player at Bucknell University, worked at Fisher for three years and struck up a friendship with Cooper over their shared love of hoops during that time. After Iowa State, Benson went on to Harvard Business School, and Grimes, whose family donated the land for the Grimes Farm where the MCCB’s headquarters is now located, went from ISU to Dartmouth College and worked as an attorney for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for many years.

Benson, Carson and Cooper all spent their professional careers in the engineering field. These days, Grimes splits his time between Marshalltown and Chicago, while the other three reside in California.

But every so often, as they did earlier this week, they return to Marshall County and get to work.

“The four of us have done other things in past years together, and so I called (Marshall County Conservation Director) Emily Herring and asked her if she’d have a project. We’d prefer something in the construction area, but we could be cutting trees and clearing brush in a park someplace else,” Grimes said. “She came up with this. They wanted a boardwalk here, so we chatted a little bit. It sounded like a good project to these guys… I’m coming out here taking pictures and talking to Emily, and she gives us a budget. We went over to Menards with a list of stuff, (Conservation) paid for it and I picked it up in my truck here. So here we are.”

Unsurprisingly, Herring expressed great appreciation for their collective efforts.

“Marshall County Conservation relies on volunteers for so many different aspects. Projects like the boardwalk at Arti and Red’s Pond were something we wanted to get done, but many other projects and basic upkeep come first,” she said. “Thanks to these amazing volunteers, we will have a beautiful board walk to complete the trail around the pond.”

They started on Tuesday and hoped to have the work wrapped up by the end of the day Friday. And while ¾ of the quartet are now far removed from Marshalltown and Marshall County physically, it’s still a place that holds special significance in their hearts — they made sure to hit up local staples like Zeno’s Pizza, Maid-Rite and Ev’s Ice Cream throughout the week.

“I grew up here. I have lots of fond memories,” Cooper said.

And although Carson’s time in Marshalltown with Fisher was relatively short, he’s thankful for the lifelong friends he made here and the opportunities they’ve provided for him.

“I enjoy projects in general, and it’s a good way to have camaraderie and give back a little bit. And it’s fun reminiscing around Marshalltown,” he said.

They also hope that making improvements to the pond will help make more visitors aware of it — two docks have been added in the relatively recent past — even as parking is currently a bit of a challenge.

“Emily Herring tells me this is 30 feet deep, and as you can see, there’s not a whole lot of runoff into here. So we think it’s springfed,” Grimes said. “The last two days, there have been a couple of (people) over here fishing… This is another nice feature for the Marshalltown, Marshall County parks system, and people should come out and enjoy it. It’s really quite a nice spot.”

They may even come back to plant some trees around the pond in the near future.

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Contact Robert Maharry

at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.

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