Restoring Family Bench Labor Of Love For Paynesville Student

PAYNESVILLE (WJON News) -- A Paynesville student has used a class project to restore a treasured family heirloom. Mason McNab is a junior at Paynesville High School and restored a bench that belonged to his great uncle Gary McNab as a project in his shop class.

Get our free mobile app

Mason says the bench is over 50 years old and it was on his uncle's property in Waseca overlooking a river. Mason says Gary wanted the family to have the bench once he passed:

"He just passed away in October of 2023 so when we were kind of cleaning up his house that is one of the things that he thought would be cool for us to remember him by and have a piece of him so we brought that bench home, probably a little after October, and then I had woodshop class this last quarter of school and so that's when I refurbished it."

Mason says they would sit on the bench and share stories with Gary before he passed:

"Me and him were talking one day and he said that he always wanted something for us kids to remember him by and he kind of came up with the idea so that we can sit and kind of talk to him about what's going on and tell him stories while we're sitting there."

Mason says it took him about 8 hours to refurbish the bench and he was able to keep all the original metal from it.

The bench now sits outside his family's house overlooking their grass field. He says it means a lot to his family to have the bench restored so they can all continue to enjoy it for years to come.

READ MORE FROM AUTHOR PAUL HABSTRITT:

• UFL’s Spring Football Has Several Reasons To Watch
• Safari North Wildlife Park Has New And Fan Favs For 2024
• Xcel Energy’s St. Cloud Service Center Is On The Move
• Homeowners Generosity Provides Valuable Training For Sartell FD [PHOTOS]
• Hundreds Line Up Despite Cold Weather For Record Store Day – [PHOTOS]
• To QB Or Not To QB? That Is The Question Vikings Ponder [Gallery]