Our Story.

The families who built this place

From a small steering committee, a place to remember.

In the mid-2000s, three Fergus Falls families found one another in a grief no parent expects to carry. Jim and Judy Schoon had lost their son Scott Allen Whipps (1967–2006) after a long illness. Julie Nelson had buried two daughters — Baby Girl Nelson, stillborn in 1980, and Anna Marie Nelson (1983–2004), who died at twenty-one after a winter car accident on I-29. Allen and Betty had lost their daughter Nancy at thirty-six on an October Saturday in Fargo.

None of them had heard of the Angel of Hope parks before they were asked to serve on a steering committee. "How could there be over 100 Angel of Hope Parks in the United States and I hadn't heard of them?" Judy wrote. "When I was contacted about being on the steering committee for the proposed park in Fergus Falls I was honored. To say this has been a humbling experience would only scratch the surface of the many emotions I feel."

The committee met. They held fundraisers. The City of Fergus Falls gave them a place on the hill in Adam's Park. After many meetings and much community support, the park was dedicated on May 26, 2012. Each year since, on the third Tuesday of May and again on December 6, families gather there by candlelight to read the children's names aloud.

— Founding families: the Schoons, the Nelsons, Allen & Betty