By Tucker Henderson

Reporter

As the the final days of summer are upon us and the Legried Community Pool in New York Mills has wrapped up another fun-filled summer season, a legacy of family ties and small-town values that keeps the pool running each year.  ¶  With nine lifeguards on staff, it’s not a coincidence that there are three sets of sisters lifeguarding at the pool this summer. While two-thirds of the pool staff may seem like a lot, the family roots run deep with these NY Mills lifeguards.  ¶  Lifeguards Maya and Violet Radniecki, Grace and Lucy Wallgren, Lucie and Molly Meyer, Jada Goeson, Cate Diggins and Elijah Geiser all share a love for the community pool where memories of summertime fun about, but most of them also share a family legacy of the summer job.

For example, Elijah Geiser walks the same pool deck as his cousins Mikayla Geiser and Zach Bauck who worked as lifeguards in the past. 

Grace and Lucy Wallgren follow in the footsteps of an aunt and uncle who lifeguarded. 

Maya and Violet Radniecki are role models for their younger cousin, Trygg Roder, who is planning to fill their shoes at the pool in a few years.

“He is planning to become a lifeguard in two to three years when he is old enough,” said Maya Radniecki. “I think he always wanted to become one from all his time at his lake cabin during the summer and his love for the outdoors.”

“He comes to the pool and is a great swimmer,” she continued. “That would be fun family time if both Violet and I are still here at the pool when the time comes around!”

Maya became a lifeguard five years ago and said she always knew lifeguarding was something she would be interested in doing. She has fond memories of growing up visiting the pool all summer long.

“I always went to the pool, every summer since I was a kid,” Maya said. “We had a family pass, so we always came, I kind of knew that was something I wanted to do. I live in town, so it’s an easy job to come to and I like being outside during the summer too. Since I was in sports, it was hard to get a job during school so a summer job that is always here is nice to have.”

Maya’s younger sister, Violet, has very similar reasons for joining her sister at the NY Mills Pool. With a wide variety of sports and activities available through the school and community during the summer, the pool was a perfect fit for her schedule.

“It’s a very flexible summer job,” said Violet.  “I’m able to do it with sports and all the activities I’m involved in and it’s good because it’s just the summer season. I always was in swimming lessons growing up and around the pool a lot with my family and then when my sister became one, I kinda decided to follow in her footsteps.”

Maya is in her fifth year as a lifeguard and Violet is completing her second year and they both intend on returning next year to be on staff. They especially like to be at the pool when the time for swimming lessons rolls around. Both agreed that the job is an enjoyable way to spend the summer.

“It’s very fun and it’s more laid back than people think,” said Maya. “I like watching the kids learn how to swim and getting excited when they figure something out and just watching them play.”

“The people that you work with, we’re all a pretty tight knit group, so it makes it a lot more fun to come to work everyday,” said Violet. “It was nice right away to have some guidance, it made it a little bit easier coming in. It’s a lot of fun, I think it makes us sisters closer as well, more bonding time.”

“It’s fun,” said Maya. “I mean we bicker like siblings, but we get to spend a lot of time together too during the summer before I go off to college and she goes back to school. It’s definitely fun, but you still get that sibling love in there,” she laughed.

Not every community has their own pool, but NY Mills is fortunate enough to have their own. Finding lifeguards, however, has been a bit of a challenge the past few years. Neighboring communities have had no choice, but to remain closed over the busy summer season due to a lack of staff members.

“It’s unbelievable how hard it can be to find people to work some days when people have things going on,” said manager Harley Wurst. “Summer is a busy time. A full staff of around 12 would be nice, especially now in August with fall sports starting and people have other jobs too. I don’t know how many times I say, ‘can you ask your sister,’ if I can’t get ahold of somebody right away. It’s convenient scheduling wise. It’s fun to see them working with their siblings too.”

Both Radniecki sisters felt that the pool was a vital part of the community and they are grateful that it’s available for the general public during the summer.

“I feel like it gives kids something to look forward to and to stay in the community,” said Maya, “It brings new families in too, they can meet other families and have their kid do something fun. I think it’s important to teach your kid to swim anyway, it’s a good lesson, so having a pool makes that really easy for kids to come and swim everyday and practice their skills and meet other friends here, it’s a nice location for that.”

“I think it’s really important for the community to have a pool,” agreed Violet. “It brings kids and families together, it offers that fun summer aspect and I think an outdoor pool is more fun to enjoy the summer weather. Families don’t have to worry about going to a lake and not having a lifeguard. I think it just opens up more opportunities and swimming lessons benefit a lot of families. It brings good work to high school students as well.”

Sisters Lucie and Molly Meyer were also on staff this year. The two of them enjoyed their summer around the pool deck, spending time with each other.

“I became a lifeguard because I was already a part of the swim team and spent a lot of time at the pool or in the water,” said Lucie. “My favorite part of the job is being outside and working with friends. My co-workers and I seem to only get closers each year and we have lots of fun together.”

Lucie has been a lifeguard for four years and said she would recommend the job to anyone who likes swimming and who likes children. She will be attending the Mayo School of Health Sciences for Respiratory Therapy next summer, so she is sad that she won’t be able to return to staff next summer.

“If I do have time off, I will offer my help though,” she said. “When the community has a pool, it offers many benefits to the people. Kits have a place to have fun and learn how to swim safely. It also offers a healthy place for social connections with members of the town.”

Working with her sister has brought the pair of them closer and she has enjoyed that shared bond between the two of them.

“I like working with my sister a lot,” said Lucie. “Since I am two years older than her, I introduced her to the pool. I tend to watch out for her and have taught her the ropes and tricks for the pool. We often rotate who will run and get Subway for lunch or help each other with sunscreen applications. For the most part, we get along very well, and our sister bond has only grown tighter!”

Sisters Grace and Lucy Wallgren also shared the summer on staff this year.

“I became a lifeguard because my sister always talked about how it was a great summer job,” said Lucy. “My favorite part of my job is helping with swimming lessons.”

This is Lucy’s first year as a lifeguard and she plans to return to staff again next year.

“Being a lifeguard is a great summer job and I recommend it to everyone,” she said. “Working with my sister in such a fun environment is something I’m very grateful I get to do. I think it’s great that our community has its own pool because it’s an excellent way for many people to come to get exercise and to cool down on a hot day!”

“My aunt and uncle were a lifeguard when they were younger,” explained Grace. “So that kind of influenced me, also just knowing some of the older girls, having taken swimming lessons there so many years. I just thought it would be a good fit for me, I’ve always loved swimming in the water, so it was an easy choice really.”

This summer was Grace’s fifth year on staff and doesn’t know what the future holds, but would love to return to lifeguard next year if it works out.

“I love my coworkers,” she said. “I love getting to teach swimming lessons, I think it’s so much fun, just hanging out with the kids and getting to teach them something that I love to do too.”

Working with a sibling can range from many different emotions and experiences, but the Wallgren sisters enjoy having each other as coworkers.

“It’s fun,” said Grace. “I loved it. She and I get along really well, so just being able to teach her what I knew and just pass along that information and the job itself, it’s fun and it’s cool, being able to do that.”

Grace also recommended the job of lifeguard. She said that it’s a great way to spend the summer and work with a great team.

“Absolutely, I think it’s so fun, your coworkers are great, it’s easy-going, we just have a great time, so many laughs and memories with all of us there,” she said. “I think that it’s a really valuable thing for kids to know how to swim and understand the potential dangers of the water, especially living in Minnesota, we have so many lakes and people are out on boats and stuff, so just being able to have swimming lessons and teach kids about how to be safe and all of that, I think it’s really important for our community and our area in general.”