After many believing that it had been stolen from the skate park, the Brandon Koch Memorial Sign is back in its rightful spot.
Turlock Parks, Recreation and Public Facilities Supervisor Erik Schulze said that City employees replaced the sign on Tuesday.
Many residents had become concerned that the memorial sign had been stolen from the skate park last week, but those claims were found to be erroneous.
“Last week when cleaning the park, staff discovered that someone had tampered with the memorial and it had been loosened from it concrete footing,” said Schulze.
Staff was able to remove the sign without causing any damage. On Tuesday the sign was replaced and reinforced by staff. Schulze said that staff dug a deeper footing to provide more stability for the memorial.
The memorial for Brandon Koch was unveiled at skate park on April 12, 2013, one year after Koch, a skateboard enthusiast and Turlock resident, lost his battle with adrenocortical cancer at the age of 26. During that year, family and friends joined in support of renaming the park the Brandon Koch Memorial Skate Park — eventually collecting more than 1,000 signatures.
In his years spent at the skate park, Koch would help young children learn how to skateboard. Koch was considered not only a leader at the skate park, but a friend to all that spent time there.
The sign was made by Koch’s close friend Kameron Schumann and and features a specially designed metal skateboard that describes Koch’s legacy. A large granite monument was also placed at the park that displays a cancer ribbon next to the words “Brandon Koch Memorial Skate Park.”
The sign was made by Brandon Koch’s close friend Kameron Schumann and and features a specially designed metal skateboard that describes Koch’s legacy.
Brandon McMillan/TurlockCityNews.com
