94-year-old man grieving his wife builds a backyard pool for the neighborhood kids

Don’t even think about wondering why a 94-year-old man would build an in-ground swimming pool – not exactly a low-maintenance or inexpensive project – in his backyard.

At least don’t say it out loud around retired Judge Keith Davison, the 94-year-old man in Morris, Minn., who this summer built a pool in his yard.

It’s been a magnet for the neighborhood kids.

Mission accomplished.

Davison wanted the company. His wife, Evy, died of cancer last year. She was 90.

She died four days before their 66th wedding anniversary.

“You just can’t imagine what it’s like,” Davison told KARE 11 TV. “You cry a lot. That’s just the way it is, because she’s not here.”

So in a town that has no outdoor public pool, Davison built one in his backyard.

Neighbors admitted they scratched their heads when they heard his plan.

Now, the pool has been a busy place since Davison opened it in July.

“I knew they’d come,” Davison told the TV station.

And, now he said, “I’m not sitting by myself looking at the walls.”

This story was originally published August 14, 2017 at 3:44 PM with the headline "94-year-old man grieving his wife builds a backyard pool for the neighborhood kids."