Angry widow won’t take Assiniboine Park memorial bench removal sitting down By: Ashley Prest Posted: 7:00 PM CST Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018

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This article was published 14/11/2018 (2488 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After a decade of providing a resting place for anyone strolling near the Assiniboine Park steam train, Lyle Koncan’s memorial bench is on its last legs.

Koncan said officials from the Assiniboine Park Conservancy have told her the bench will be removed in the near future because it is more than 10 years old.

The bench — bearing a bronze plaque with an engraving dedicating the bench to her late husband of 20 years, Tony, and their Scottie dog Daisy — has been sitting near Tony and Daisy’s favourite spot in the park since Koncan paid $1,500 for it in September 2008.

“When I would go to church, he would take our little dog and they would go on that train. So I put the bench in front of the train,” Koncan said, her voice cracking with emotion. “I’m just so sad. Now they said I have an option. I can pay an additional $2,500 to keep the bench because the bench is already in that spot.”

That’s a discounted renewal donation amount for existing benches; the minimum donation for a new bench is $3,500. Koncan has no intention of paying the renewal amount.

“When it’s going to be removed, they’ll let me have the plaque on the back of the chair,” she said, adding that her letter of receipt from the city in 2008 stated the bench would be there “for years to come.”

“Of course, I was outraged. They can take the bench and remove it after I was told (by a donor representative) it was going to be there for my grandchildren and great-grandchildren. I’m looking into this. I’m talking to the parks board with the city to find out if I can move the bench to another location.”

Laura Cabak, the APC’s marketing and communication specialist, said the Assiniboine Park Bench Adoption Program agreement stipulates “a bench tribute does not constitute ownership” and that benches will be maintained for a “guaranteed minimum 10 years” and that “all reasonable efforts” will be made to consult the donor before any relocation, alteration or removal.

“We empathize with people in this position,” Cabak said. “There’s some very moving stories attached to some of these benches and we understand the emotional attachment that people have with the park.

“That’s why, going forward, we’ve tried to make our policy that much more clear so people understand that they’re making a donation, and that it is not forever.”

She said a removal date for Koncan’s memorial will be set when the bench’s condition further deteriorates.

Cabak said the bench adoption program has been clarified to explain that memorial benches are placed under donations and are not purchased. Donors receive a tax receipt and may then display a memorial plaque on the bench for 10 years, during which time the bench is maintained by the APC.

For older memorial benches slated for removal or renewal, finding the donors can be difficult or impossible, because many of the old records lack contact information, she said.

The APC began overseeing the bench-adoption program in 2010 after it took over operation of Assiniboine Park from the city. Three other groups had previously run the program and the APC inherited incomplete records for about 80 benches.

“The way we approach it is, the benches are here and if and when they are in a state where they need to be replaced, we contact the donor, or make every attempt to,” Cabak said.

The conservancy is storing about 40 plaques from removed benches and encourages family members to contact the APC to claim them, she said.

“It was terrible what they did. They could put it (notification) on social media, in the paper, on the TV. If a new animal comes into the zoo, everybody knows about it because they have it on social media. That was a feeble, feeble excuse.”– Florence Smart

Florence Smart said no one contacted her when a memorial bench, dedicated with a plaque to her late husband, Jack, was removed last summer. Her grandchildren went to the park to visit it near the English Garden and it was no longer there. Smart said when she paid $750 to dedicate the bench in December 2003, her letter of receipt stated the bench would be in place “for years to come” and there was no expiry date.

APC officials told her their records were incomplete so they could not contact her.

“It was terrible what they did,” she said. “They could put it (notification) on social media, in the paper, on the TV. If a new animal comes into the zoo, everybody knows about it because they have it on social media. That was a feeble, feeble excuse.”

Smart said she got the plaque and will put it on a new bench that her son and daughter will place in her daughter’s yard in the spring, adding she would “definitely never put it in Assiniboine Park.”

ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca