Retired Oberlin teacher funds children's swim lessons, lifeguard training in brother's memory

OBERLIN — Less than a year since Gloria Buxton started a campaign in honor of her brother, the effort has raised enough money to pay for 40 children to attend swim lessons. "I Can Swim My Way," hosted via the crowdfunding site IOBY — or In Our Backyards — has raised more than $2,000 to pay for swim lessons at Lorain County Metro Parks' Splash Zone in Oberlin. Buxton, of Lorain, established the fund after her brother, William "Billy" Otis Jordan, 60, had a heart attack while swimming at the French Creek YMCA. It was a hot summer and Buxton had loaded her granddaughter and her brother into the car to take advantage of Jordan's recent approval for a scholarship to the YMCA, as he was on Social Security disability for schizophrenia, she said. While sitting outside the pool with her 3-year-old granddaughter that June 2, 2022, morning, she saw people running around and asked one of the staff members to go check on her brother. When the man came back, he told her Jordan had had a heart attack while swimming. "From that moment, all chaos broke out for me," she said. While French Creek YMCA staff took her granddaughter to the day care, Buxton rushed to Cleveland Clinic Avon, where Jordan was pronounced dead. "I just decided, I had lost my husband 10 years ago and I know volunteering is a way to walk through grief," she said. "So I thought 'Well, I've got to find some way to walk through this.' And so 'I Can Swim My Way' started." Buxton and her family also set up a restricted fund at the French Creek YMCA in Jordan's name, hoping to help offset swim lesson costs for children there. But the more than $2,000 through the IOBY fundraiser — with up to $1,000 of it matched by the Lorain County Community Foundation — will pay for children in Oberlin to learn to swim this summer. Splash Zone facility coordinator Erica Rainey said the Metro Parks is in the process of training a few more swim instructors but will be able to accommodate beginner swimmers in six or eight-week sessions starting in June. And since Buxton began reaching out to the YMCA and the Metro Parks, the project has grown to support lifeguard training and goes hand-in-hand with a countywide aquatic initiative in the works. John Carney, retired YMCA senior director, said the Aquatics Initiative started before the pandemic with three main components: the Safety Around Water program, swim classes, and lifeguard academies. With Buxton's initiative helping fund swim classes, with an initial focus on Oberlin youth, the countywide initiative wants to connect aquatic programs in Lorain County to be able to pool resources and reduce costs for swim or safety around water programs. It's also trying to eliminate financial and transportation barriers by looking to host programs in community pools — like Splash Zone, he said. Oberlin Schools, where Buxton taught until her retirement in 2013, is also on board. Buxton hopes students will be able to get physical education credit by becoming a lifeguard. Melissa Linebrink, the district's marketing and communications consultant, said the swim classes, and the potential for summer employment as lifeguards, are resources the district wants to let its families know about. The Metro Parks covers the $175 instruction fee for lifeguards if they commit to working at one of its aquatic facilities, Rainey said. "I Can Swim My Way" is still accepting donations via its IOBY campaign through March 31. To donate, visit https://ioby.org/project/i-can-swim-my-way. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.