Interactive human sundial being constructed at Lowe Park
by Robyn Ireland [email protected] · June 4th, 2020


What goes with an interactive, inclusive playground at Lowe Park? An interactive, inclusive sundial to tell what time it is, of course.

Friends of the Marion Parks and the Marion Parks & Recreation Department teamed up to fund and build a human sundial in lower Lowe Park. The structure is in honor of Charles Kress, a long-time member of the Parks Board and Marion resident. Kress passed away in January 2017. Growing up in western Nebraska, Kress had a love of open prairies and great appreciation for the outdoors. After moving to Marion with his wife and three sons, Kress worked at the then Collins Radio as an electrical engineer, earning both his own patents and several with his team at what is now Collins Aerospace. He officially retired after 39 years there, but continued to work on contract from time to time.

After his death, the Friends of the Marion Parks, and his wife Pat, a member of the organization, were in discussion of how to honor Charlie. Pat brought up the fact that her husband had always been fascinated with sundials and perhaps that could be a possibility. As everyone else was talking about a sundial on a pedestal, or some kind of sundial sculpture, Mike Etzel, also a member of the Friends, began doing some research on his cell phone and discovered human sundials. Further research turned up an organization in the Netherlands that would, if provided with the latitude and longitude of the requestor, carry out the appropriate computations for an accurate sundial, create the plans and provide the lay-out.

The idea was presented to the Marion Parks & Recreation director Mike Carolan and was well-received. It was decided the department had better resources to build the sundial, though both Parks & Rec and the Friends contributed funds for the project. Construction has already begun and the hope is to have the sundial completed by mid-summer, with a ribbon-cutting to officially open it to the public. A kiosk with an explanation of how the human sundial works and a commemorative bench are also part of the plans.