In 1948 William Donner donated to the city of Columbus Donner Park, the shelter, the Community Center and swimming pool to be uses as what is now known as Donner Park.  One of Mr. Donner's stipulations when donating the funding for the swimming pool was to ensure that the pool would be made available to everyone regardless of their physical or economic situation, wanting times set aside for swimming lessons.

 

That year when Irwin Miller hear that Will Donner was going to donate Donner Center he got himself and some of the other business owners in town to go and speak with the mayor, Robert Louis Stevenson. Irwin Miller along with other business owners wanted to open Donner Pool to everyone to use and not be segregated like Indianapolis and other pools in the area. So Donner pool opened as one of the first in the state to be non-segregated. 

 

Paul Stacker was hired in 1948 when the pool was being built to oversee the pool as well as the rest of the Columbus park system. He was very involved in making sure that physically challenged children were encouraged to learn to swim and use the pool.  Every one of the disabled children were given free lessons to swim, dive and play tennis.  Paul Stacker who was executive director for Foundation for Youth here in Columbus, started a swimming program for children with disabilities.  In 1976 he was honorary United Way Chairman, and 1979 was honorary Easter Seals Chairman.  At the request of Paul Stacker, Maynard Noll who owned a dealership spent many years bringing disabled children back and forth to the pool.

 

It was then in 1962 that Paul Stacker and Maynard Noll started what is now Access-Ability.  Maynard Noll was the Chairman of the Bartholomew County Easter Seal Society.  He also took the children to Camp Koch in Tell City for a week of fun in the summer along with hauling them back and forth to the hospital and other special events. He saw to it, that medical equipment for children and adults was available for them. In the article attached it is reported that  Noll arranged for the delivery of equipment to 116 individuals in Bartholomew County in 1986.

 

These men were all gifted visionaries, and look at all the lives that were touched through all of this.