Finding a reason for the river

Charles Flynn, was a local man who served almost two decades committed to the development and improvement of the East and West Wetlands park, trails and beaches.

Flynn, who recently retired from his position of executive director of the heritage area, now has a legacy left in Yuma County.

On November 9, the “Charles Flynn Riverfront Trail” was dedicated and a monument was unveiled to recognize Flynn’s accomplishments.

The Wetlands Park, which began as a dump, has come a long way to become what it is today.

Tom Rushin, a retired school superintendent and serves on the board of directors, is passionate about the history of Yuma.

“As we plan for the future, it’s helpful to know where you’ve been,” he said.

His hope as a member of the board is to ensure communications among each member.

Rushin remembers when the river was a trash dump, uninhabitable to residents and certainly not serving a purpose of being enjoyed.

“The river was essentially inaccessible for the community and had been for many many years,” Rushin said.

He said that many groups in the community had come forward to develop plans to open up the river to the public, “making it an attraction rather than a detraction,” he said.

Rushin remembers when Flynn was hired by the Yuma Crossing National Heritage area as a public and private partnership to be their executive director.

Rushin says Flynn came in and kick-started the plans that began as “ifs.”

“One of the things he was so good at was that he realized that communication is a lot more than talking,” Rushin said.

Rushin says he really got people to listen to each other.

Rushin said that Flynn was persistent and was determined to not let the vision of the river fall by the wayside as it had in the past 30 years.

Rushin said one of Flynn’s first action items was Gateway park.

“Gateway park was a place you didn’t go,” he said.

The danger and hazards of the old park “was not a place to be,” Rushin said.

“I’m 76 years old, and that area was never an area, that you went to,” he added.

Rushin remembers meeting Flynn at a Design Historic Review Commission presentation,

When the idea of the riverfront park began.

“I thought to myself, I’ve heard this story for 55 years, I don’t know if it’s going to happen, but we’ll give it a try,” he said.

Little did he know that about 8 years later, Rushin and Flynn would work together on a daily basis in developing plans for the park.

Rushin explained that a neglected river is not uncommon to most communities but “in Yuma, in reality, we wouldn’t exist without the river,” he said.

When Flynn retired, there were many people that spoke to board members who wanted them to do something.

“Charles was an individual that didn’t really want to have his name plastered on anything, he’d just done a job,” Rushin said.

Rushin said Flynn had just seen his actions as something anyone would have done if that were their job.

As the board was thinking about the best way to honor him, it always came back to the riverfront.

“Our vision is that we will have a trail that will run from the Western end of the West Wetlands and go to the eastern end of the East Wetlands,” Rushin said.

On the 9th of November, the trail was dedicated and named with Flynn in attendance.

10 markers will be added to the trail labeled with Flynn’s name.

“What’s more fitting for Charles, because without Charles, there would be no trail,” he added.

“Charles looked at all people as valued, he took each person as they were and listened to them, and then put it all together,” Rushin said.