Stayton High School unveils fitness center to honor fallen Marine

STAYTON Ore. (KPTV) – It was a day to celebrate and remember in Stayton on Thursday, with the ribbon cutting of the new Ty Hart Memorial Fitness Center at Stayton High School.

620 days after the groundbreaking and 185 donors later, the Ty Hart Memorial Fitness Center is open to serve students at Stayton High School.

“This is a dream come true because our son Ty gave his life for our country,” said Ty Hart’s mother Trina Hart. “His name will live on in infinity on this building and his story will be told in hopes that other children can see the importance of sports and training their body and training their mental health.”

“When Ty went missing, this town came around us,” said Trina. “When we knew he wouldn’t come home, this little town came around us. When Ty came home covered with our American flag, they lined the streets of this town, and it was cold and brought him home. Brought him home the right way.”

Lane Corporal Hart, a Stayton class of 2012 graduate, died in a marine helicopter crash off the shore of Oahu during a night training mission in January 2016.

“A really good lesson for the youth in our community to see the reality of what world we live in and that we live free because of guys like Ty,” said Trina.

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Ty’s mother Trina is a Stayton High class of 1984 alumnus, she, her husband Mike, and Ty’s older and younger brothers were able to sign the walls of the new fitness center in Ty’s name.

When asked if she could have ever imagined this, Trina said, “No! We had a room that, I’m not joking, was probably 15-by-15 and we didn’t have much to train with, but we trained.”

The workout facility was 100% fundraised with the help of the Stayton Booster Club and hundreds of man hours by local businesses working in kind for their labor, excavation, concrete, and materials.

“Their name is apropos, Hart, right? They live that out and it’s special because they always want to support the adults but it’s all about the kids for them,” said North Santiam School District Superintendent Lee Loving.” How can we help the kids, how can we honor our son’s legacy at the high school in which we love?”

Ty said to his mom that he wanted to be a Marine in the 8th grade, he then competed for the Stayton Eagles in football, wrestling, track, some baseball, and even cheer.

“If we can get these kids in here at a young age and get them maybe off their screens and get them focusing more on the machines and the equipment here, I think that can be a life-changing thing. It can re-alter, point them in a better direction,” said Stayton High School Booster Club member Randy Forrette.

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The Ty Hart Memorial Scholarship has kept busloads of students playing sports.

“We scholarship student-athletes, buy their gear, pay their fees if they want to play and for some reason, there is a barrier and we’ve helped over $600,000 worth of children in eight-and-a-half years but I want to make it really clear, the HartStrong Foundation didn’t fund this, we didn’t touch those funds because we still want to help one athlete at a time,” said Trina.

“It shows the significance of this building and someone so great like him is the reason this is happening. His name is on it,” said Ethan Whieldon a Stayton High School Senior. “He gave his all for this country so it’s just motivation to come in here and work hard every time we come in here,” said Stayton High School Senior Tanner Starbuck.

“I hope it will inspire them to reach further and hit the gym instead of drugs or alcohol or parties or any of that stuff. I hope it will inspire them to just set their goals and do better and see that, yeah, you’re from a little Stayton, Oregon but you can go do big things because he’s doing big things 8-and-a-half years later,” said Trina.

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