Friday, October 4, 2024
It was the end of homecoming week. Toilet paper swayed from trees and the night before, the Warhawks beat the Marathon Red Raiders 36-6. Parker Sherg and Sydney Folk were named the homecoming king and queen.
Sydney Folk is the younger sister of Taylor Kennedy Folk. For the past five years, people gather at Wolf River Crossing Park in Fremont to remember her sister on the fourth Saturday of September.
Taylor Kennedy Folk died on Aug. 30, 2019 right before her senior year. She was a three-sport athlete. She played volleyball but colleges were recruiting her to play basketball and softball. Softball was her main love where she played catcher and third base. She was planning to pursue a medical career.
Unknown to anyone, a tumor was growing inside of her chest since she was a baby. It grew into her lungs and later her abdomen and that’s when she started to feel the pain. A doctor thought it was her gall bladder. That was removed. There were other surgeries and it was never discovered. Their family doctor figured it out when looking at an x-ray. More testing revealed the tumor. She underwent another surgery, there were complications and she died.
Saturday, Sept. 28 was a perfect fall day, a mix of warm and cool with leaves just starting to turn. Last year was rainy miserable weather yet people still turned out in big numbers to participate in a 5K run/walk in the name of Taylor Kennedy Folk.
Taylor’s father, John Folk, said this time of year was a mix of love and hate. His daughter’s birthday was September 25 which falls around the time of the memorial 5K run. His hate is reserved for not being able to save his daughter. His love is for the people that attend the event. This year there were over 400 registered runners and walkers.
“Everyone shows up on this day and it is incredibly emotional for us,” said Folk.
Over 700 people attended Taylor’s funeral. She left behind three siblings. The Folk family was gifted a lot of money during the funeral. The family made a decision to use those funds to do something in her memory. They started a nonprofit foundation to award scholarships to W-F seniors. The first year they offered a $5,000 scholarship to one student. They decided they wanted to help more people so they divided that sum into two $2,500 scholarships. The criteria for the scholarship are for students to have good grades and to have been a three-sport athlete during at least one of their years at W-F High School.
This year’s 2024 scholarship recipients are Parker Wilson who his hearing to UW-La Crosse and Ryleigh Farkas who will study at Fox Valley technical College.
The course in Fremont starts at Wolf River Crossing Park, goes up Wolf River Drive to the Lakeside Cemetery where a water station is set up. From there, runners turn around and head back to the park which doubles as the starting and finish line. A 5K run is 3.1 miles.
As runners passed the finish line they were given a medal with some symbolic significance. On the center of the medal is a sneaker that symbolizes the fun run/walk and it shows that they are leaving a footprint in memory of Taylor. There is 5K 4 TK which translates to “5k (the length of the race) for Taylor Kennedy.” Also on the medal are the numbers 25 and four. Those were their numbers on her sports jerseys. Her birthday was on the 25th and it was her favorite number. Later she took the number four because of an older W-F athlete she admired. There is a Christian cross that shows her strong faith and the heart is for her love of family and friends.
The list of sponsors and donors grows bigger every year. It ranges from the Green Bay Packers, the Minnesota Vikings, the Minnesota Twins, the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers to numerous local businesses big and small and a long list of individual donors.
Set upon tables at the park were 72 donated gift baskets to be raffled off. There was an A&W Root Beer food truck and the Cowboy & the Thirsty Bandidos were warming up on the stage to play an afternoon set.
The village of Fremont lets the foundation use Wolf Crossing Park for free. “The village is very open about having Wolf River Drive shut down for the event. The Waupaca County sheriff led the race for us today. It was pretty fantastic,” said Folk.
Besides this annual community event and scholarships in her name, the W-F class of 2020 donated their class funds in Taylor’s name to be put towards covered bleachers at the softball field. This is part of the plan the W-F school district has to update the softball field.
