Barry Winters sees the completion of Marble Rock park bridge

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

A Marble Rock man has gotten to see a special project through to completion.

For many years now, Barry Winters has been an active member of the Marble Rock community, including being a member of the Marble Rock Park Board since 2016. As a member of the park board, he’s helped build a gazebo and install a nine-hole Frisbee golf course, but his biggest project has been the construction of a new bridge reconnecting the city park to its southern access road.

“Barry’s Bridge,” as it has now been dubbed, replaces an older bridge that had been at the park years prior and had long been out of use. With JC Construction doing the cement work, Winters, along with Denny Ernst and Jim Tegtmeier, spent years working on-and-off in their spare time to get the new bridge in place and put the connecting road back in.

The bridge itself was completed this spring and Winters was looking forward to finishing off the project with the addition of a covered roof. However, he was met with an unexpected obstacle.

In June, Winters was told that he had developed a rare form of stomach cancer and was given a terminal diagnosis. His health has been on the decline since then.

“On his bucket list was to see the cover of this bridge and finally get it finished,” said Sandra “Sam” Field, Winters’ sister. “This was very important to him to see done.”

As Barry’s health diminished, efforts to finish the bridge ramped up. According to Field, Liz Enabnit took the initiative for fundraising and made sure progress on the bridge roof kept moving.

“If it wasn’t for her, I don’t think this bridge would have gotten done,” said Field. “She just took the bull by the horns.”

Dan Dow, Denny Ernst, and Jeffrey Winters spearheaded the construction, and signs were donated by Steve Sliger of North Iowa Fabrication, but the project as a whole couldn’t have been completed without a slew of dedicated volunteers from the community.

“A lot of people liked Barry and they came out and gave a day of work,” said Field. “A lot of people were involved with this.”

In honor of all Winters had done for the town, the Marble Rock community worked tirelessly to make sure that the job was completed in an expedited timeframe.

“These guys worked seven days a week trying to get this done,” said Field.

Though he wasn’t able to physically work himself, Winters did his best to stay involved in the project. Not one for being cooped up, he would ride his four-wheeler to the park every day to watch the work being done.

“They kept him in the loop on everything,” said Field.

The expedited efforts paid off. By mid-September the roof was completed. Though an official ribbon cutting ceremony featuring Winters is unlikely to happen, Winters was able to see the roof finished and enjoy the bridge in its completed form.

“That’s what he wanted to see and that’s what happened,” said Field. “He’s my brother and I’m so proud of him.”