After losing their 2-year-old in a pond accident, an Odessa family is urging parents toward water safety.
GARDENDALE, Texas — In the quiet moments of the morning, Chelsie Willard still listens for the “heavy-footed” waddle of her 2-year-old daughter, McKenna, running across the floor.
But the home is silent now. A void left behind after a split-second tragedy that the Willard-Wayman family is determined to turn into a life-saving warning for others.
McKenna Willard was “baby number six,” a chubby-bellied toddler who her father, Brandon Wayman, describes as the “perfect” child. She was a force of joy who loved riding on her dad’s motorcycle and had a deep, almost magnetic infatuation with water.
“If she had her way, we would bathe her multiple times a day,” Chelsie Willard recalled. “She would sit in a dry bathtub and just wait for you.”
That fascination turned tragic last month, just three days after the family moved into their new Odessa home. The night before the accident, a fierce windstorm revealed that a glass window in the house wasn’t correctly sealed. Fearing for her daughter’s safety, Chelsie taped the glass completely shut. However, the following morning, while repairs were being made to the home’s plumbing, that window was left open.
In the few minutes the window sat open, McKenna slipped through the gap and waddled outside toward a backyard pond. The realization was instantaneous and haunting.
“I stood up off the couch and I saw the light shining in from that curtain being pulled back,” Chelsie said. “I didn’t even look. I just screamed because I knew where my baby was.”
McKenna was found in the water moments later. Despite the family being told the pond was sloped and safe, McKenna could not get out. She passed away just two days after her second birthday.
For Brandon Wayman, the grief is compounded by the time he spent away from home to provide for his large family. Working 90-hour weeks in the West Texas oil fields, he says his biggest regret is the time he sacrificed for a paycheck.
“Having nice things is nice, but it’s not worth sacrificing that time with your family,” Wayman said through tears. “I always thought that I could make the time up later… Take an extra day off and spend it with your kids and love them and cherish them while they’re here.”
In the weeks since, Brandon spent an entire night operating heavy equipment to fill in the pond, an act he described as “therapeutic.” The family is now advocating for stricter safety codes and better education regarding backyard ponds, especially for “transplants” moving into new environments.
They plan to transform the site of the tragedy into a memorial garden, planting “heavenly grass” and a fruit tree.
“I can’t save her now,” Wayman said. “But I want to save any other child from going through what she went through. That is all that can come out of this.”