Children’s Memorial Garden at Holocaust Museum

The Holocaust Memorial & Tolerance Center of Nassau County Children’s Memorial Garden - a sanctuary nestled amidst Welywn’s wooded trails and shoreline along the Long Island Sound - serves as a meaningful memorial to the 1.5 million Jewish children who were murdered during the Holocaust and all of the children who died during World War II.

Thanks to efforts spearheaded by a World War II veteran from Glen Cove, the Garden has been preserved and enhanced as a cherished destination for learning and reflection.

About six years ago, while volunteering at the Holocaust Center, Bob Praver took notice of how weedy and otherwise neglected the Children’s Garden adjacent to the building had become. After Bob, a retired homebuilder learned that that the Center didn’t have funds to pay for renovations, he enlisted masons, landscapers, and other subcontractors he previously worked with to lend a helping hand.

Six years and a lot of hard work and aching muscles later, the Children’s Memorial Garden at the Holocaust Center is once again a beautiful sanctuary where children can learn and adults can walk through the brick-paved areas and relax on a bench to rest and reflect. The serene setting is notable for its beautiful plantings, an amphitheater encircled with stanchions featuring poetic and moving Holocaust-related quotations.

“Bob is one of those extraordinary people who inspires so many others to do great things,” Nassau County Legislator Delia DeRiggi-Whitton said. “The work he and other volunteers did to completely transform the Children’s Garden at the Holocaust Center is truly remarkable, and we treasure his contributions to this meaningful site and the entire Glen Cove community.”

The restoration effort is just one way how he has given back through activities related to the Garden. One day last summer, Bob met U.S. Marine Corps veteran Fred Nielsen in the Garden. Fred pairs Boy and Girl Scouts and other youth volunteers with Scouts from older generations who meet in the Garden and discuss various topics while learning about one another. Bob, who was an Eagle Scout in his youth, was a perfect fit for this impactful program.

During a ceremony in the Children’s Garden in October honoring Bob, Boy Scout Joseph Sullivan and karate student Kuga Rex Weber presented a beautiful knot board that translated many of the stories Bob had told them about his experiences in the Pacific theater during World War II, where he served on a vessel that transported Army and Naval personnel back home from China and Japan after the war.

Now 95 years young, Bob is not showing signs of slowing down any time soon. The Glen Cove resident has four children, 13 grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. In his spare time, he belongs to a writing group at the Glen Cove Public Library and runs a movie and discussion event at his complex.

Visit hmtcli.org for more information on the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center and the Children’s Memorial Garden.