Rose Remembered At New OVLL Field
The Ojai Valley Little League and the Montessori School of Ojai joined in the dedication ceremony for the new Peggy Rose Memorial Little League Baseball Field at the Montessori School of Ojai located at 806 W. Baldwin Road in Ojai on May 31.
The ceremony began at 1 p.m. just after the three-week cloud cover cleared with bright sunshine and a light breeze. OVLL President Bob Boyd began by relaying to the assembled crowd, who numbered over 40, the background of the field and the meaning behind the dedication.
“Need has met opportunity” said Boyd, “and here we stand today dedicating this great facility to the memory of a great contributor to Little League and our community as a whole.” Later, in a story of his early days in Little League, Boyd alluded to his introduction to finding out who to go to for all the answers. “We simply ask Peggy Rose,” he was told time and time again. Rose lost her battle with cancer on July 4, 2007.
The official dedication honors were bestowed on the Rose family, Keith, Keegan and Meagan, husband, son and daughter, respectively, of Peggy Rose. The family took to the field, landing the first footsteps in the freshly prepared infield, and took their positions with Keegan on the mound throwing to his father, Keith, behind the plate and daughter Meagan as umpire.
After the first pitch was thrown, the emotionally-moved crowd, made up of a wide and diverse cross-section of the community, all friends of Peggy Rose, gathered around the stone monument behind the backstop for the unveiling of the plaque, which stood there hidden by the numerous Little League banners and draped in a U.S. flag. With a picturesque view of the mountains in the background and the new field before them, Boyd called for a moment of silence to honor the memory of Peggy Rose.
That silence was broken by a resounding, “Play ball.” The Rose family was called to the monument and the flag lifted revealing a bronze plaque commemorating the dedication of the field and with the inscription, “For the betterment of the community and the love of the game.” A phrase more fitting the spirit and actions of a person could not be written.
MSO director of the school, Janet Lindquist-Lang, said, “This is a wonderful thing that, working together, we’ve been able to accomplish for our students, Little League and the community. Peggy Rose was a great person and her son Keegan went to MSO along with my son, Scott, so this has special meaning to me and all of us here at MSO.”
OVLL and MSO board of directors member, Eric Baldwin, said, “While this project started out slowly, and had a few hiccups along the way, the end result is just what we had in mind and was worth all the effort. This facility provides our 13- to 14-year-old-players who have graduated from an outstanding facility at Oak Dell Park, a full-sized and well-equipped practice field with batting cage and bull pens that will allow them to keep developing as players and successful young members of our community. Not to mention, look around , it’s a beautiful setting as well. On top of all that, it will help provide an introduction for new parents and students to the educational oppor-tunities available at MSO. Peggy Rose would have approved.”
Boyd added, “Being able to stand here today on this fantastic field gives OVLL and the board a great sense of pride and accomplishment. This is our third field renovation in four years and the level of support we’ve received from the community and the selfless involvement of our league and volunteers really defines this great community we live in. Being involved is the best thing we can do for our kids and will only serve to set a good example and help future generations. Our Junior program now has a regulation practice facility to get the kids ready for high school baseball,” he said, referring to the 90-foot bases. “We’ve also plugged in 60-foot bases for our other teams and Ojai Valley Girls ‘Softball Association to practice here when our juniors are not using the field. This joint venture with MSO has helped free up other fields in town to allow other organizations access to more practice fields.”
Special thanks for all their efforts in support of this project go to Kent Millar, Matt Construction; Jeff Jenkins, Orion Landscapes; Progressive Landscape; and Stan Schneider of MSO.
For more information, contact MSO at montessorischoolofojai.org or Boyd from OVLL at boydclan@charter.net.