Hot tip from reader leads to mystery at Sorosis Park

Who is this guy and why is he volunteering all the time and all over our community? What gives?

By Tom Peterson

CCCNews recently got a hot tip from Lynn Smith Gannon. 

Here’s what she said:

Possible story.  There is an older gentleman, David, that is at Sorosis Park 7 days a week raking and shoveling and helping with the park recovery. He is a pleasure to visit with and is doing so much to help the community.

I was immediately intrigued by the message.

This kind of work ethic, which combines giving and the attainment of joy all within the same package, is what I call in life, flow. It’s that moment when people working together find a higher level of happiness when contributing to something bigger than themselves.

Smith’s mail was also curious for another reason.

I had interviewed another David several months ago as he patched the cracks and improved the shoulder on Riverfront Trail. 

Could it be the same guy?

When I arrived at Sorosis Park on Tuesday, David Wilson of DZ Grinding said “David” had been showing up at the park for months with his own wheelbarrow and tools, piling up leaves and carting them off to be taken away.

I asked Wilson today, where David was at? It was 8:30 a.m.

“He’s not here yet,” Wilson said incredulously. “He’s 80 years old. He’ll be here later today. Don’t worry, he doesn’t miss a day.”

When I showed up at 10:30 a.m., I found him. 

He was near the baseball fields stuffing leaves in his blue Truper wheelbarrow.

Guess what?

It was the same David. David Neitling to be exact.

And he’s not 80. He’s 84.

And he wore too many layers as the sun was kicking the temperature into the 50s. 

Neitling has been volunteering at local parks for 15 years. 

He graveled a half-mile of the running trail around Sorosis two years ago.

“I have been here since April,” Neitling said this morning. “I like to see the park looking good. I only work three or four hours a day. I got to do something. I don’t want to sit at home and watch TV.”

“When you live in a community and you see a problem, fix it,” he said.  

David Neitling filling cracks on Riverfront Trail last spring.

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