Willoughby Hills recently recognized Max Culp’s Eagle Scout project, a memorial patio in Mentor Municipal Cemetery, which will now serve as a place for visitors to sit and reflect on their loved ones.
A member of Willoughby Hills Scout Troop 280, Max, who was born with Down syndrome, achieved the rank of Eagle Scout in July.
His journey began in 2016 when he achieved his Scout rank. He then went on to achieve his Tenderfoot, Second Class, First Class, Star and Life ranks prior to passing the Eagle Scout Board of Review. During his time with the troop, Max has served as troop historian and assistant senior patrol leader, and has earned 66 merit badges, which led him to receive the Eagle Scout Award.
Given the difficult badge requirements and leadership responsibilities, the award has only been bestowed on approximately 5% of scouts.
Max Culp is a member of Willoughby Hills Scout Troop 280 and was born with Down syndrome. With the help of local businesses he recently completed a memorial patio in Mentor Cemetery for his Eagle Scout service project. (Submitted)
After he was promoted to the rank of Life Scout in October of last year, it became important for Max to find a partnership where he would be able to create a service project that benefited the community, said Susan Culp, Max’s mother.
“He looked around quite a bit,” she said. “He is a part-time, seasonal worker at Mentor Cemetery, so we went to the cemetery and pitched an idea of a historical tour through there because so many famous people are buried there.
“His boss said, ‘We already have historic tours. Max is a builder. I really want him to build something,’” she continued. “He approached Max and said, ‘We have this overgrown garden. Would you like to turn it into a patio?’ That’s not a small idea and Max smiled, and he’s like, ‘I think I like that idea.’ ”
Max did some research on the overgrown garden and found it was located in front of the Dietrich family graves.
“Mr. Dietrich created this garden in front of where his wife was buried and he would visit that grave every day,” Susan said. “Eventually, he was permitted to create this garden area and put a bench there. He passed and some ladies had come in to take care of this garden. As time went on, it was harder to maintain and the garden had become in disrepair.
“We went over and we looked at that, and (Max) said, ‘Let’s make it a memorial patio.’ The creation of this was starting to take hold as to what it would look like.”
The idea of a memorial patio formed last December and at the beginning of January, Max was working with Melissa Brickman at Northcoast Memorials.
“She connected us to Kevin Raico,” Susan said. “He works for the Lake County Sheriff’s Department, but on the side, he has a business where he installs patios. He came to our house and sat down with Max, and they started to design. Max wanted to make sure they installed two benches across from each other in this patio and Kevin began working on a draft of this.
“We knew right away we were going to do the benches and Kevin said, ‘Mentor Lumber is the best place to go.’ ”
Before contacting Mentor Lumber, Max practiced his pitch with his speech therapist.
“His first sales call was to Dave Griffith at Mentor Lumber and Dave said, ‘I don’t have an answer right now. I’ll get back to you tomorrow,’ ” Susan said. “Sure enough, he called back the next day and said, ‘We would like to help with the benches.’
“Kevin made a phone call to Lake County Landscape and Supply and said, ‘Have Max go over there.’ They donated all of the underlining stone material for the base of the patio.”
The last call Max made was to Raymond Builders. The Geneva-based business ended up donated all of the pavers, the sand and the edging material for the project.
“These are all small businesses in Lake County and people who watched, and listened to Max and said, ‘We’re going to come together for the benefit of the community and for the scout,’ ” Susan said. “It was extraordinary.”
In addition to the donations toward the patio, Max connected with a fellow scout who is also a retired Marine.
“He raised $3,100 and we were able to purchase bronze plaques to go on the patio,” Susan said. “One of the benches is in memory to the Dietrich family, the original founder of that gathering space.
“On the second bench, there’s a bronze plaque that honors it as Max’s Eagle Scout service project, but it lists all of the donors and people who came together to make that happen.”
The pavers that were installed will be able to be engraved, so people may purchase a brick to memorialize their loved ones at the cemetery.
Max’s new quest is to define what his adult scout life will look like, Susan said. Not only does he want to own a woodworking business someday, but be a merit badge counselor for disability awareness.
“He very much wants to be an adult scouter and help coach other scouts to the rank of Eagle,” Susan said.