SIOUX CITY | A couple in their early 20s occupy the second and third floor of a 1916 prairie farmhouse with a wrap-around porch and peeling paint, a piece of Sioux City history nestled among a sanctuary-like setting of blooming flowers, bushes and trees and a bubbling fountain that can’t be missed.
Brody Osterbuhr, a tenderhearted 22-year-old with thick-rimmed glasses and a scraggly beard, and his wife Nikole Klemmensen live in Latham Park.
He holds a romantic view of the privately-owned public park as many do who grew up in the area and threw pennies into the fountain or exchanged vows in the quaint, green estate of the late Clara Latham that covers nearly an acre, one block off of Morningside Avenue.
His grandparents lived in a yellow house across the street for 40 years. His family moved into that same house 11 years ago.
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“When I was growing up, I’d always come over and visit Grandma and Grandpa. We’d walk through the park. I was here all the time,” he said.
The quiet retreat exists because of Clara Latham. When her parents retired from farming south of Moville, Iowa, in 1899, they moved to Morningside. Her two brothers built the family home, at 1915 S. Lemon St., and she lived there until she died in 1937.
Before she passed, she established a trust, now managed by Security National Bank, to preserve her home and surrounding property for public use.
By 2002, money in the trust fund was running out, and the Friends of Latham Park formed to rectify the situation. Contrary to popular belief, the city does not own or maintain the park or make financial contributions to it.
Park maintenance requires an annual operating budget of $25,000-$30,000, according to Jill Swanson, co-president of the nonprofit association.
Some of the biggest expenses arise from the century-old home.
In recent years, grants and donations -- monetary and in-kind -- helped to remodel the kitchen, install a new furnace and central air conditioning unit and replace the roof, gutters, windows and doors. New insulation, wiring and siding are next on the list.
An outdoor stage recently arrived in a 1,500-pound package, a purchase made possible thanks to a $10,000 grant from Missouri River Historical Development. The portable stage and sound system will be used for weddings and other special events, including a live family-friendly music festival in the spring featuring local musicians.
“Anything we do, we have to raise the funds for,” Swanson said. “We don’t get any help from the city or the state or the federal government. It’s all private donations and grants. To be able to continue this park, we have to be continually reaching out to the community, getting in a younger demographic … The median age of our group of volunteers is probably 62.”
Eager to use social media to promote the park, Osterbuhr and Klemmensen are a big part of energizing community outreach initiatives. They’re at least half the age of past caretakers, a job that comes with a rent-free residence but no salary.
For that matter, it’s not just a job. It’s a lifestyle -- a welcome one.
They moved into the Latham home in April after a stint of living in Lincoln, Nebraska, where he worked as a train conductor for BNSF Railway. It was a grueling work schedule.
“I’d be home for 10-12 hours and gone for 36. That’s not the work-life balance that I really wanted,” he said. “I’d much rather do this for the rest of my life than do that for five years.”
While volunteers do pitch in to help, they’re responsible for a better part of the upkeep, which includes mowing, weeding, planting, pruning and fall cleanup. They’re also expected to be on site to oversee all events whether it’s a wedding or the annual pancake breakfast.
Their motivation for maintaining the park isn’t money but a memory of a man.
Osterbuhr smiled as he recalled his boyhood playtimes, hiding in the perennial elephant ears that towered 7 feet tall. But the fondest times were spent walking the park’s paths with his grandpa, Cecil Vander Weil, the unofficial supervisor of the neighborhood.
That’s why Osterbuhr wanted this job. His grandpa loved Latham Park.
Vander Weil died in August and dedicated memorial funds to Latham Park. The money went toward updating the “summer kitchen.” The open-air structure in the southwest corner of the park got a fresh coat of paint, new shingles and soffit and a wheelchair-accessible sidewalk.
If his grandpa were still alive, Osterbuhr thought the watchman would approve.
