Two children fell from the top of this slide in the playground across from the house where I grew up. One of them was my sister Patti, pictured nearest the top in this photo. The second child to fall tragically died, but the slide was not removed or altered until the old school building was replaced years after I had grown up and moved away. I am the third and lowest child in this photo, following along, as usual. photo circa 1949/50 by my other sister, Betty Dykstra Wilcox
https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/10/26/rdp-friday-slide/
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 
Very sad.
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It rocked our little town as it was a very popular family. The mother especially had brought so many activities that totally changed the dynamics and brought so much life to the town. Her small son’s death was therefor ironic as well as sad.
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Those old school people didn’t think (or so it seems) that children would get hurt. My brother fell from the top of the ‘tricky bars’ (the name of the jungle gym thing) when he was in kindergarten, breaking three bones in his foot. He was in a cast for weeks, but your story reminds just how much worse it could have been.
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My sister can’t even remember ever telling our mom when she fell from the top of that slide. It was only concrete and hard dirt and rocks below it–plus the bolts that stuck up out of the concrete to hold the slide in place which is what pierced the skull of the little boy. So sad.
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The middle child in the photo isn’t even hanging on! The codes on play ground equipment has certainly changed for the better!
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For every child that died after a fall from a slide, I’m sure a hundred died from hitting &/or going through windshields. Safety requirements have changed hugely since we were girls. Lately I’ve seen playgrounds with shredded recycled rubber under the swings and slides. Now to work on those bone-crunching, concussion-producing contact sports. 🙂
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Amen! Our version of the gladiators.
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So sad and to think that it wasn’t even removed! This reminded me of all the crazy and unsafe equipment they used to have on playgrounds when we were kids.
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We’d sit on waxed paper before we went down to make the ride even faster.
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Oh, my — how sad! My pediatrician dad often commented that such accidents would come in groups — kids falling from playground equipment, kids falling out of cars, etc. No wonder most slides now sit on sand!
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Yes.. much saner.
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