Ocean City Humane Society dedicates play yard to Kenneth Esdale

OCEAN CITY — The Humane Society of Ocean City dedicated its remodeled shelter, new dog play area and two kennel wings to a special donor and friend of the organization.

Executive Director Bill Hollingsworth said during a dedication ceremony Friday, Oct. 1, that a gift from the estate of Kenneth Esdale, who passed away about 18 months ago, allowed the HSOC to remodel the shelter — including new flooring, roofing and kennels — purchase and install generators, upgrade its computers and technology and create the Kenneth Esdale Dog Play Yard behind the adoption center.

Hollingsworth said Esdale’s mother, Janice, made the donation, knowing her son’s love for the organization.

“Mrs. Esdale is more than a mother who lost a son, she is now part of our family,” Hollingsworth said.

“This is such an important day for the Humane Society. We are so happy to be able to show everybody this project that was made possible by Mr. Esdale,” HSOC board president Carrie Dickinson said.

The backyard project began last October when workers started pulling up the old turf that the HSOC obtained from Villanova University. Hollingsworth said the old setup was adequate, providing an outdoor place for the dogs to run a little and play, but now the area has state-of-the-art turf above a bed of gravel to allow for drainage.

“It has been here more than a year and looks like it was put in yesterday,” Hollingsworth said, noting they then put new fencing around the area.

He said the process was difficult for Esdale because she was so close to her son.

“Every time you talked to her she cried, and it was touching, but I told her we will guarantee that what we said we were going to do we are going to do and you’ll be proud of it because it will be a place where Kenny’s name will be up forever here. People that don’t know him will come into this play yard and ask, ‘Who is Kenny Esdale?’ and we can tell them and the impact that his legacy will have on this complex for years to come,” Hollingsworth said.

The big project started in January, when renovations to the shelter started. Hollingsworth said it was a juggling act staying open during the two months of construction.

“It was chaos in there because they stripped out all of the kennels at one time, piecemealed some things so we could use some kennels,” he said. “At the end it’s state of the art, the best kind of kenneling system out on the market and it makes our animals less stressed. It’s better for them while they’re here.”

Hollingsworth said Esdale loved the results, calling to express her pleasure that so much could be accomplished with the donation.

Wilma Dubil, who has been a volunteer at the shelter for 13 years, told the story of how she met Kenny Esdale and introduced him to the HSOC.

She said after she adopted her dog Lexi she joined the dog park.

“I went to the dog park and here is sitting this gentleman with this little Alskan klee kai, 9 months old and humping everything in sight,” Dubil said. “And it tried it on Lexi and she was like, ‘No, no, no. I have a headache, don’t come near me.’ So I told him he had to get his dog neutered.”

Dubil said Esdale made excuses, saying his vet would not do the operation because his dog was too young.

“I said, ‘I don’t care what your problem is, here’s a number, tell them I sent you and get your dog in there and get him fixed. You can’t come back in here unless your dog is fixed,’” said Dubil, not one for mincing words.

She said the next time she saw Esdale he told her how much he enjoyed his experience. 

“From there on in, we were the best of friends,” she said. “He was just an awesome, awesome guy. When I got the call that he passed away, it was very sad for me. Then his mother called me and said she wanted to make a donation and the rest is history.”

Singer Nancy Malcun, 32, of Absecon, played “Born to Run” as a tribute to Esdale.

Friend Chrissy Bacia of Nutley was in attendance representing the Esdale family. 

“Janice really, really wanted to come today, she really did,” Bacia said. “It was just too much for her and she didn’t want to be here and just cry and cry and cry. She’s happy and proud that she could do this.”

She said Esdale died without leaving directions for his estate, “so we sort of had to guess.”

“This was not a difficult guess. This is a place he got a lot of joy from, he always talked about it, told me I had to come and see it. I know that he’s smiling down right now, he’s very happy,” Bacia said.

By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff