When Ryan Poland was a young boy, he would often walk from his home on Foster Street down the bike path to Veteran’s Park, behind the YMCA.

Ryan loved fishing, and one of his favorite spots to cast a line was Brickyard Pond. He particularly liked the small clearing near the eastern edge of Brickyard — a small stretch of shoreline at the end of the gravel road that runs past the ball field.

Overlooking that spot now is a handsome wooden bench — it is a memorial to Ryan, who died in a car accident in Connecticut on Jan. 18. He was 39 years old. 

Ryan’s mother, Lori Desmarais, said the bench is a beautiful tribute to her son.

“He just loved it here,” she said. “He loved the peace and nature.”

Ms. Desmarais said Ryan fished Brickyard Pond growing up and later as an adult, sometimes from a canoe and sometimes from the shoreline.

On June 6, Ms. Desmarais held a special event to dedicate the bench to her late son. Seventy people attended, remembering their friend and enjoying the same small section of Veteran’s Park that was always so special to Ryan.

“He was so full of love,” she said. “He was so good.”

Building a bench

It is built of oak — thick and wide boards that Ms. Desmarais selected from a saw mill in New Hampshire. 

The memorial bench is unique in its appearance and its construction. Ms. Desmarais said Ryan worked as a master carpenter and was a member of his company’s finish team, adding “they did such beautiful work.”

Many of Ryan’s co-workers and friends helped build the bench, and its construction served as a tribute of sorts, Ms. Desmarais said. For five weekends in a row, Ryan’s friends and co-workers went to Ms. Desmarais’s house in Connecticut and built the bench. Every Saturday and Sunday, from breakfast until dinner, the group worked.

“It was like, ‘I can’t have Ryan, but I have all these people who loved him and cared about him,’ and they’re just the most incredible guys,” Ms. Desmarais said. 

“He had magnificent friends.”

That experience offered some solace to Ms. Desmarais. She said she would cook meals for the workers — a big breakfast, a big lunch, with all the food that Ryan loved.

“It meant a lot to me,” she said. “I miss him so much.”

When the bench was finished, it was brought to Veterans Park; the town council earlier approved the installation of the bench. It is now anchored to the ground, and one of Ryan’s friends from high school planted small shrubs on either side of it. 

On a recent Thursday morning, Ms. Desmarais visited the bench. She sat on it and looked across the pond, her dog, Charlie, laying near her feet.

She reflected on the childhood Ryan and his siblings had: visiting the pond to fish or riding bikes on the bike path. The bench is there now for others to use when they fish — there are pole-holders carved into it — or for anyone who is looking for a quiet place and a beautiful view.