Memorial playground opens in Saint John's Rockwood Park

After seven years of planning and fundraising, the memorial playground Hannah and Jack's Sunshine Headquarters has officially opened in Rockwood Park.

The playground was funded by the Porter Memorial Playground Fund through donations from businesses and community members across the city.

The city got involved later, and both the municipal and provincial governments matched the donations from the fund for a total of over $120,000 going towards the playground's creation.

Hannah and Jack’s Sunshine Headquarters opens in Saint John.

8 years ago

Duration 0:23

The playground, opening Friday, was built in the memory of Jason Porter of Grand-Bay - Westfield, and his children Hannah and Jack who were killed in a crash near Oromocto in 2009.

After a quick countdown with the busloads of elementary children in the audience, they ran towards the playground to start playing.

"This is more than I thought would ever come," says Christy Bursey, mother of Hannah and Jack, and creator of the memorial fund, "so I'm very happy with it, very thankful for anybody that donated and had a part in it."

A tragic accident

Bursey came up with the idea for a playground after she lost her two young children, Hannah and Jack Porter, and her husband, Jason Porter, in a car accident in February 2009.

The three family members were on their way back from visiting family in the Woodstock area. Jason Porter lost control of the car on the icy road and slid into a bus outside of Oromocto.

Porter was an off-duty RCMP officer, working in Grand Bay-Westfield. He'd been a member of the RCMP for eight years.

Bursey wanted to memorialize her family with something happy, that people would use, so she decided that a playground would be the best way to make this happen.

"My kids were young, Hannah was 5 and a half, and Jack was almost 3, so it was kind of their life," she said. "They loved being outside, they loved playgrounds, and they loved Rockwood Park, so ending up here was perfect."

A collaboration

Work began in earnest when the city got involved and Bursey began collaborating with Marc Doucet, operations manager for parks for the City of Saint John.

She had originally planned to build the park at Seawood School, but after speaking to Doucet, they decided that Rockwood Park would be an ideal location.

"Rockwood Park is the gem, I guess, of our park system," said Doucet, "and it made a lot of sense to put the investment into Rockwood Park."

With a location in mind, they then turned to a design.

"[We] talked about many different themes," said Doucet. "We had some professional designs and a professional playground design company work with us, and we talked about fire engines, and police cars."

Bursey now lives in Fort McMurray, and after sending designs back and forth through email, the nature-themed playground caught her eye.

"When I saw this one, I absolutely loved it," Bursey said, back in Saint John for the opening. "I liked the natural look to it, the fake wood and stuff."

"It's fun, it's natural, it is just something that kids can really get out there and play on, and have fun, and I liked that it seemed like a tree house theme that they could have potentially made."

Bursey is overjoyed at the reception and is happy to see her vision come to life.

"I've been looking forward to it for so long, and I'm just so happy with the way everything went. It's great."