New garden is a lasting legacy to a special man

By MARTIN WILBUR

Thirty years after his death, Wilfred Jennings’ impact and influence still looms large in Mount Kisco.

For many of the children who grew up in and around the village in the 1960s and ‘70s, Jennings was an irreplaceable figure. He molded and guided youngsters with critical life lessons at a time in life when they could benefit from it most while leading the Boys Club (now called the Boys & Girls Club of Northern Westchester). In some cases, he was like a second father.

On May 31, Mount Kisco began its sesquicentennial celebration by honoring Jennings with the dedication of the Wilfred Jennings Garden, a plot of land between Gatto Drive and Lieto Drive off Lexington Avenue. Containing a plaque and a flagpole, it will serve as a flower garden once all the plantings bloom and as a greenspace for quiet reflection.

For Luke Scala, who led the committee with his cousin, Robert Dagostino, to raise tens of thousands of dollars and work with the village government to make the garden a reality. Jennings, a Black man, was able to see through surface-level differences and care and nurture anyone.

“He was an amazing man, but what he left me with, and I’m trying every day, and I suggest you guys do the same, hate does not belong in your heart; it’s an anchor on your heart,” Scala said. 

“It holds you back, and I know it’s hard,” he said. “People who’ve wronged you and do this. But Jesus was the ultimate teacher, and I think Mr. Jennings, the one thing that he taught me was to be child-like. See the world with no hate, see the world through a lens of honesty and really just everything new.”

Jennings, a longtime village resident, was a Marine who served in World War II and the Korean War. He worked for the draft board, according to his daughter, Karen Richardson, and the Postal Service, before going to the Mount Kisco Recreation Department. In the early 1960s, Jennings accepted the role at the Boys & Girls Club. He died in 1995 at 75 years old.

Dagostino said the respect and reverence for Jennings was so impressive that one of the boys he mentored traveled from Atlanta, Ga., last Saturday for the day in hopes of being in attendance for the ceremony. While the man arrived too late for the ceremony, Dagostino said he made sure to bring him to the garden later that day.

Jennings’ family members descended on Mount Kisco last weekend, including many who traveled from North Carolina for the ceremony. Richardson described her father as a kind and gentle man, who even after the drowning of his 12-year-old son, Alexander, in Croton Lake Reservoir, carried on bravely, and channeled that pain into helping other children.

“This garden is proof that his living was not in vain,” Richardson said of her father. “This garden shows the character, not only his character but the character of this town and the people in it, and I pray that it will continue to thrive for many years.”

It wasn’t only children that reaped the benefits of Jennings’ mentorship. Retired Fox Lane High School physical education teacher and athletic director, Robert Mergardt, recalled how when he arrived at the school in 1965, Jennings urged him to help out at the club. He constantly talked about equality and respect, at least 40 years ahead of his time, Mergardt said.

Mergardt said he was astonished how Jennings, despite losing his son the year before he arrived, continued to help others and hold his head up high. It was a valuable lesson that Mergardt put into good use in 1991 when his son died.

“How the heck am I going to get through this thing?” Mergardt remembered. “Mr. Jennings came to mind. To stand up straight, you take care of your family, you let people here who have reached out to you, you appreciate them and you cherish that child. You’re only going to have them for a certain amount of time. We don’t know how much that’s going to be. All the way back, I learned that from Mr. Jennings.”

Mayor J. Michael Cindrich, whose children also attended the club when they were growing up, said the original idea was for there to be a plaque in a park to note Jennings’ influence on an entire generation of youngsters. However, Cindrich didn’t believe that was sufficient, and when Scala and Dagostino approached him with the idea for the garden, late last year, the village moved quickly.

“Mr. Jennings would drive the kids here from the Boys Club, to their home when the mother was late,” Cindrich said. “So when you talk about compassion, caring, thoughtfulness, loving nature, you’re talking about Wilfred Jennings.”