Palmerton pool manager to step down at the end of the season

Palmerton Memorial Park’s pool has been a significant part of Larry Arner’s life since the very beginning.

Ever since he was a child, the pool represented something special to Arner and his siblings.

While the family didn’t have much, the pool was the one luxury the kids could always count on. It was always a go-to spot for Arner and his pals.

“When I was a kid, my friend and I would be the first ones at the gate, every day,” Arner said. “I know my mom brought me up here when I was little. It was one of the things that my mom made sure I had, that our family could come here and go swimming. We didn’t have a lot growing up, so this was like a great gift to us children.”

At the end of this season, Arner will be stepping down as the pool manager, a career post he has held for nearly four decades.

It may be hard to leave the pool behind, but as just about anyone who is familiar with Arner knows, just because he’s not working doesn’t mean he won’t be present.

“I’ll still be there, but I’ll be able to say, ‘See ya! I’m heading home!’” he said with a laugh.

A community man

Arner has always had a knack for community service.

Starting at the age of 12, he was a Boy Scout and a volunteer at the Palmerton Hospital Festival and the Palmerton Community Festival.

At the age of 16, he signed up as a volunteer firefighter.

By a stroke of luck, when Arner was looking for work in 1982, the Memorial Park was looking for a general manager. It was a perfect fit, one that would stretch into 36 years of service to the community, and countless friendships and special times.

Before he even started, Arner was already getting a feel for the job.

“Prior to me taking over here, I used to come over and talk a lot with the previous manager and the maintenance person. They were very close friends of my family,” he said.

And when he locked down the job, he dove right in — figuratively and literally.

“The first year I took over, I took the lifeguarding course from one of my lifeguards, who was the instructor. I still remember to this day her hollering, ‘Larry! Let the other kids do it!’ I had taken lifeguarding when I was younger, and being a water rat, I could do everything in the water without any problem,” Arner said.

The following year, Arner became a water safety instructor. Since 1984, he served as a lifeguard instructor.

The nuts and bolts of the job

Over the course of an average day, Arner has to stay on top of just about every element of the pool and its surrounding area.

“You have to make sure the chemicals in the pool are properly regulated, your chlorine levels and your pH. You’ve got to make sure the filters are working properly every day. You have to maintain the grounds, and this year’s been a battle with all the rain, trying to keep the grass mowed and the weeds down.”

Other responsibilities include handling staff members, including lifeguards, refreshment stand workers and office employees.

Some of Arner’s proudest works include a number of improvements and extensions that he championed over the years.

“We took out the old little waterslide and put this one in around 2009. We enlarged the pool area on the north side of the pool to encompass the pavilion, which used to be on the outside in the woods, and nobody would use it. We enlarged the grass area, made the volleyball court a sand area. We built the addition on the building down here for storage for the swim team and pool property. We replaced our old baby pool in 1991 and enlarged that area,” he said.

When Arner first took the job, the pool’s surface was a green concrete base. He later led the mission to install a blue epoxy coat.

“The one year I sandblasted a third of the pool myself, painted it and everything. It was very tough. That’s when I was younger and dumber,” Arner said with a laugh.

Extra special efforts

Thanks to Arner’s extensive connections, the employees were able to install over 50 new benches to replaced worn out metal and wooden models, all for free.

It even got to a point where people were contacting the pool office volunteering to sponsor a bench, despite there being no space to fit another one. That effort alone saved the Memorial Park almost $30,000.

Arner said that he has always loved meeting people at the pool and providing a safe place for everyone to have a good time. That ethos has directed much of his actions throughout his career, taking care to provide plenty of fun opportunities for everyone.

When Arner took over as pool manager, the Pool Pals — a group of previous board members and friends of the pool — were looking to let the organization go.

“So, my wife and I took it over, and we’re doing the same things they had,” Arner said. “When they were running it, they had a Spring Celebration and a Fun Day. We added extra special event days, Christmas in July, the Old Timers’ Day and Carnival Day.”

Swimming lessons for kids are near and dear to Arner’s heart, as he loves to introduce the young ones to the water.

“One of my favorite stories is when we were playing ‘Larry Says,’ I said, ‘Drop in the pool and flop like a fish!’ And one kid went down and did it, and when he stood up, one lady said to me, ‘He’s afraid to go underwater.’ I said to him, ‘You were under the water!’ and he said, ‘Yeah, I was!’ He was as excited as can be. Just seeing them do something the first time, that’s the best,” Arner said.

The legacy

Without the help of his family and friends, Arner said, he wouldn’t be able to do what he does.

Arner’s wife, Susan, has been a supporter of the pool for years, serving with the Pool Pals and assisting with special events. Each of Arner’s children, including his son Lee and daughters Jodi Smale and Kelli O’Donnell, have spent time working as refreshment stand employees and lifeguards.

“They even started out when they were younger than that, cleaning and picking up the garbage off the grass. I’d give them a nominal fee out of pocket, and they thought it was great,” Arner said.

Both Lee and Smale have served as assistant managers as well, and these days, Lee is functioning as the acting manager at the pool.

Over the last year, Arner has had to slow his pace a bit due to medical problems. Lee and Gretchen Laviolette have stepped up to run the pool in the meantime, though it’s practically impossible to keep Arner away. He still pitches in with special events, such as the recent Christmas in July and the Old Timers’ Day, and he can always be counted on to lend a helping hand.

Having served as the manager for literally half of the pool’s life span of 72 years, Arner hopes that he and his family can help maintain the grounds until they reach the centennial celebration.

Coming to the end of a lengthy career, Arner said that he has a lot of fond memories with family and friends, and that none of it would have been possible without the support of his loved ones, especially Susan.

“I enjoyed it. I loved working outside, I loved the water. I’ve been at this pool ever since I was a little kid. I’m going to be 65 this year, and I’ve been coming here 65 years, continuously,” he said.

“I’ve always enjoyed meeting the people and giving them a family-oriented place to come.”