The 22nd metal bench in Nancy Lewis Park in Colorado Springs may not look different from others placed around the 9-acre, city-owned grounds, but the story behind the newest addition elevates it to a heavenly resting spot.

The existence of the bench, which was installed just over a week ago, grew out of a simple need that began last year, after the Colorado Springs Parkinson’s Support Group and the Colorado Parkinson’s Foundation purchased and donated to the city a symbolic work of art.

The trek to reach the Parkinson’s-themed butterfly sculpture in Nancy Lewis Park is tiring for Parkinsonians, said Mary Sauvain, a leader in the local support group.

The new bench overlooking the park’s signature pond with a fountain and waterfall completes the tribute to loved ones who have lost their lives to the nervous-system disease and raises awareness about the debilitating condition.

“People appreciate the benches, and this one’s right by the pond and has great views,” said John Weaver, skilled maintenance construction supervisor in the Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services department.

The project also is part of a new reboot of the city’s memorial bench program, he said.

But first, the backstory.

In 2022, The Rotary Club of Colorado Springs asked Colorado Springs School District 11 middle school art teacher Tara Sauvain if she would consider having her students paint one of the organization’s ubiquitous charitable butterflies to sell at its annual fundraising auction in 2023. Money raised at the event benefits educational projects in D-11 and other causes.

Tara didn’t think the timeline would work with the academic calendar and instead offered to create one herself.

She chose a design that would pay homage to her father, Rich, who had Parkinson’s disease.

The butterfly, titled, “Living With the Parking Brake On,” depicts how Parkinson’s scrambles the neurons in the brain. On the butterfly’s wings, interconnected yet disjointed nerves form vines that link red tulips — the official emblem of hope for Parkinson’s patients. The butterfly’s body represents a brain stem.

But the piece also provides hope, said Mary, Rich’s widow and Tara’s mother.

“The butterfly represents both the neurological aspects of Parkinson’s, as well as the optimism that one day a cure will be found to combat the disease,” she said.

Rich, who had worked as a barber and dabbled as a self-taught handyman, was cognizant enough at the auction of butterflies in April 2023 to realize the sculpture made by his daughter acknowledged his internal and external struggles of the disorder that affects motor and mental skills. The local and state Parkinson’s organizations collectively bid on and won the Parkinson’s-themed butterfly at a price of nearly $3,000.

Ret. Marine Corps Sgt. Richard Ray Sauvain died June 19, 2023, after living with Parkinson’s for 20 years. His name, along with Ret. Air Force Lt. Col. Worth Russell McCue, another longtime local Parkinsonian who died Sept. 4, 2023, appear on a plaque on the memorial bench.

The problem, Mary said, was that Parkinsonians who visited the butterfly had a complaint.

“A number of people have commented on how wonderful it is, but different Parkinsonians have said it’s nice, but we had to keep walking. We didn’t have enough strength to stand there,” she said.

Members of the local support group and the state foundation pooled their money to make another donation.

“The bench makes it easier for Parkinson’s sufferers, their care givers, loved ones and other park visitors to find a place to relax and reflect,” Mary said.

The sitting space faces the pond, which is also a favorite gathering location for ducks, and is surrounded by trees that include white oak, honey locust and weeping willows.

Memorial funds donated in Rich’s memory formed the seed money to buy the bench, and the Parkinson’s foundation supplied the remainder, said Jill Donohue, another member of the local support group.

“Now, those who stop to view the butterfly and read its sign can sit and think about Rich, Worth and all the other real people who live and have lived well with Parkinson’s,” she said.

The city’s memorial park bench program has been on hiatus for a while, Weaver said, but slowly is being revitalized as a community offering.

Groups or individuals pay for the benches, which are donated in remembrance of loved ones. Donors also provide materials needed to install the benches and plaques. The city supplies the labor and logistics.

“It allows people an opportunity to have an outlet to provide a personalized memorial bench,” Weaver said.

Under a new direction, Weaver said benches are being standardized in the city’s 150 parks to present a uniformed look. The restructured program should be fully enacted in 2025, he added.

Nancy Lewis Park, off Templeton Gap Road near Fillmore Street, happened to have space available for both the butterfly installation last year and this year’s bench, Weaver said.

The park is a fitting location; a granite legacy wall with names of loved ones was installed at the park as a project of the city and Pikes Peak Hospice & Palliative Care upon its opening in 1997.

A project to update the park that began in 2015 led to creation of a meditation garden near the legacy wall. The park itself, named after former city parks director Nancy Lewis, who had devoted her life to preserving and improving Colorado Springs’ municipal parks, was built with community underwriting for the city’s first arboretum.

The Colorado Springs Parkinson’s Support Group estimates that between 1,600 and 2,000 people in the area are afflicted with Parkinson’s disease, affecting thousands of families and caregivers.

The local support group has more than 600 families involved, Mary said. The group meets the first Saturday of each month from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Central United Methodist Church, 4373 Galley Road. The agenda includes a featured speaker and a potluck lunch.

The group also operates a lending locker that is open to all Parkinsonians, free of charge. Items such as wheelchairs, transport chairs and walkers are available.

A caregivers support group is active, along with group dance and a YMCA exercise program for people with neurodegenerative conditions.

For more information, go to www.co-parkinson.org.

Contact the writer: 719-476-1656.