Push on to name Highland Park disc golf course for volunteer

Petition started to honor Ingram at Highland Park

The Central Blair Recreation and Park Commission will consider whether to name the disc golf course at Highland Park after an Altoona man who died unexpectedly in October 2024 at age 32.

As a youth, Mason Ingram was a leader among a group of friends who called themselves the Cool Aid Kids -- individuals who remain friends today as a "found family," according to Tracy Lynn and Alice Oswald, who came before the commission board bearing a petition with 26 signatures.

"The Cool Aid Kids follow in Mason's mission to be the kind of adults that he needed when he was young," Lynn stated in a presentation to the board. "There is no physical space for anyone to go to, to be close to Mason, so in dedicating the course in Mason's honor it will give his friends and family a place full of positive memories."

Ingram was dependable and worked four jobs at once because he liked to stay busy, according to Lynn, in a letter to Altoona Mayor Matt Pacifico and City Council.

He volunteered to help young people and was an employee of the Gloria Gates Memorial Foundation and the Soaring Heights School, according to Lynn, who called herself "a mother figure" to all the Cool Aid Kids, including Oswald.

"The kids adored him," Lynn wrote. "These are kids who typically experience a great deal of hardship and often inadequate support in both their days at school and home life, something that Mason experienced (himself)."

Almost two years after his death, the kids to whom Ingram was a mentor "are still sharing Mr. Mason stories," she wrote.

Ingram was an "advocate for mental health support and suicide prevention, (and) was always ready to help friends and strangers alike through their dark days," Lynn wrote.

Lynn and Oswalt plan to start a foundation to help support local at-risk youth, according to Lynn.

Some of the funds from the planned foundation could go for maintenance of the disc golf course and for cleanups at Highland Park, she wrote.

"Mason was a good kid, and became an even better adult," Oswald wrote in an email to the Mirror. "Part of why our entire friend group was able to stay out of trouble is because we had things to do and places to just be kids, and Highland Park was one of those places ... (t)hat's why we chose (the park) as the place we hope to memorialize Mason."

The board will take the request "under advisement," officials said.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.