Families remember toddler with playroom

BY BARBARA GREENBERG
Commercial-News
Published: January 31, 2008
DANVILLE—Thanks to the community’s support, Reagan Williams’ family’s nightmare turned into a dream come true for children staying at Your Family Resource Connection’s domestic violence shelter.

The Williams and Green families earmarked a portion of the donations to Reagan’s Rescue, the fund they established in memory of the 2½-year-old Tilton child who died in July 2006, to a new playroom at the shelter. The room was dedicated Tuesday in her name.

“This is bittersweet,” the Rev. Jim Williams, Reagan’s great-grandfather, said before he led family members and YFRC
staff in a prayer of dedication. “When something like this happens, you pick up the pieces and see what you can make of
it.”

Reagan died from what Vermilion County Coroner Peggy Johnson reported as closed head trauma consistent with shaken baby syndrome. More than a year after her death, Ryan Allhands was arrested and charged with the crime. The former
boyfriend of Reagan’s mother, Tracy Green, is currently free on bail and awaiting trial.

Attending the informal ceremony were members of both the Green and Williams families. Reagan’s father Ian Williams, her paternal grandparents Greg and Marsha Williams, her maternal grandparents Gary and Becky Green, her mother’s sister and brother Kelsey and Cory Green and her paternal great-grandparents Jim and Roberta Williams joined with Tawnya Morgan, YFRC’s child advocate, and Maretta Withers, head of YFRC’s domestic violence program, in the bright, toy-filled space.

“This room is not in the domestic violence shelter per se,” Morgan, who coordinated the project with the family and YFRC, said. “It’s outside near the office area, but it will be open continuously. Not only will it be a place for children to play, but it will also be where staff can meet with clients for counseling and activities. Before this, the toys we had were scattered in our lounge/TV room.”

Old toys and the new ones purchased with donations to Reagan’s Rescue filled the brightly colored room. YFRC maintenance staff erected three walls for the space in what used to be a hallway. They painted the walls, which Morgan then decorated with colorful decals of trucks, cars and Reagan’s favorite, Dora the Explorer. The toys in the playroom will stimulate and delight
young children, no matter how difficult the circumstances that brought them to the shelter. A complete kitchen set filled with pretend food and a pint-sized table for two took up one corner.

“This part looks just like Reagan’s room,” her grandmother Becky Green marveled when she saw that part of the playroom. “She loved her kitchen.”

Another area held shelves filled with books and games. A rocking chair with a quilt draped over the back, perfect for quiet moments between mother and child, and a wooden rocking horse were placed on either side of the shelves. Members of North Ridge Middle School Builders Club donated both, along with another set for elsewhere in the shelter

Mickey Mouse, Snoopy and other icons of childhood appeared in the form of posters, stuffed animals and signs that decorated the space. Brightly colored hampers served as containers for blocks, cars and trucks and other toys. An artist’s easel awaited its first masterpiece, while a baby doll slept peacefully in a cradle.

But the centerpiece of the room was the portrait of Reagan painted by her great-grandmother, Roberta Williams. Williams, a member of the Danville Art League, used a photo of the child cuddling with her father as her model. “I had to put a pillow in place of Ian’s chest for the painting,” Roberta said.

Ian and Greg Williams hung Reagan’s portrait directly across from the playroom’s door. Her face will be the first thing that women and children entering the room will see, and she will gaze down upon them as they play

“We hope that children will laugh in here,” Greg said.

“This room is dedicated to the lives of children,” his father, Jim, said. “Reagan’s life will never be in vain.”