2007 Danville, Illinois

This year’s Ponditat for Humanity recipients are:

Tony & Linda Jones / Danville, IL

     IPPCA Member Gary Sackett and his pet "Norway".  

Bio - Gary Sackett / Springwater Water Features

Fascinated by water, I would say describes me….from a child building miniature dams & creeks in mom’s front yard garden to swimming with ducklings and sometimes gators. As I got older we always found ways to get to the beach.

I was fortunate enough to obtain a baseball scholarship out of high school, which paid for 3 years of community college. It was there that I started studying Criminology and later finished my degree at Florida State University in Tallahassee.

I met Cathy my last year of community college and we secretly married for my last year at Florida State. That’s a whole other story to write about.

In 1987 I was hired by the Tallahassee Police Department, where I stayed for 6 years. While in the police academy, Cathy presented me with a Father’s Day card. Not only was it exciting being a new rookie, in June 1988 I was a rookie with the birth of my son, Tharon. During my 6 years of service, I rose to the rank of Investigator and worked in both the Burglary and Fraud/Forgery Divisions.

Doing what I do now, giving 110%, I was able to find “trouble” as a police officer. Trouble means having too many close calls.

Realizing that there is life beyond, I resigned and moved to South Dakota to decompress. A year and a half later I moved to Grand Rapids, MI where the “water” called again.

I found my way into the Pool and Spa industry in 1998, quickly working my way from retail floor sales to Assistant Manager.  After finishing top in the class of Manager Training of Leslie’s Swimming Pool Supplies, I was recruited to the Southwest where I opened a new store in Phoenix, AZ.

I soon moved to one of my distributors and quickly became the Assistant Branch Manager. It was at this time that I started a pool and spa repair company.

In 2000, I met Greg Wittstock in San Diego, Ca. as the “new” revolution of ponding was kicking in. That’s when I got the “pond building” bug and thought that I would be building ponds in Phoenix.

From the above thought to reality.  We moved to Bismarck, IL where I finally started building ponds. My first one was a 26’x 37’ with a 50’ stream and 5’ waterfall. This pond was featured in the 2005 Danville Garden Walk, and close to 400 people visited.

From the first time that my vision of water flow materialized, I knew I had found my passion. I attended training classes, built ponds, read, more ponds. Chicago, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Door County (WI).

I worked midnights at a factory and built and serviced by day building my company slowly but surely. This came to a halt in March 2006.

It was early in the morning at the factory when switching out a dye, I felt something pop in my neck. Early diagnosis by a company doctor stated it was a shoulder strain. It was then I became a number instead of the hardworking employee.

The week after my injury, my sister called me from Orlando, FL. to inform me that Mom was very sick. It appeared to be cancer. On my arrival she was diagnosed with brain, liver and lung cancer.

Radiation, chemo and care she responded, as she fought, I did too.

Back in Illinois, the call came within a month that Mom was in a coma. It took a week of her fighting just to get home, out of the hospital. We got her home. Hospice involved. I took Dad back to the nursing home and tucked him in. Walking into my sisters home, a glass of water and sitting on my Mom’s bed it was time. I gathered family and friends as she passed. We buried her a week before Mother’s day.

Knowing something wasn’t right, I pushed to see my own doctor and it was then it became quite clear that the strain was actually bulging and herniated discs in my neck. The insurance company for the factory did everything they could with exception to looking in my eyes and calling me a liar.

Company second opinions, different doctors, different cities, down to 2/3 of my salary and building ponds came to a trickle. I thought about closing shop.

Time continued as it always does, it turns to winter, serious surgery looming. My normal income was gone, decisions to be made. Searching for better ways, brain instead of brawn, I eventually made contact with leaders in the pond industry. One lead to the other and I became a member of the IPPCA. A couple of calls and I had more information to share with my customers than the previous years combined. The dull flicker became a torch, hope returned.

It’s people that you come in contact with that actually care, my customers worried about me instead of their ponds.

The 2 1/2 hour surgery to fuse C-5 through C-7 was completed on April 30. 2007.  I feel much better and I thank those who thought and prayed for me.

From my last year in college, I had a constant in my life, a rock to hold onto during the storms and a little bit later a small “buoy” to keep the balance. This past year has been extremely hard on them. Thank you Cathy and Tharon for being my ballast. 

As you could probably guess 2006 was a blur, a distant memory on one hand and great lessons in the other.  Most of all it’s the caring, sharing and giving that we all can do. Thank you Mom!

The current pond in the background with the proposed additional pond laid out.

                       The Current pond

The additional proposed pond

The current pond on the top left corner and the proposed additional pond in the lower right corner.