Parks to bear Deputy Scott Pine's name

It was common to see Scott Pine at area parks, playing with his three children and teaching his daughter how to ride her bicycle without training wheels.

So it’s fitting that two parks in West Orange County will pay tribute to the Orange County sheriff deputy who lost his life Feb. 11, 2014, after responding to a call in a southwest Orange County neighborhood.

“I’m honored that there are parks being named after such a great man,” Bridget Pine, the deputy’s widow, said. “My children’s eyes just brightened, they just got excited, to hear that parks are named after their daddy, which is very special.”

Haley, 7, Ryker, 6, and Maddox, 2, know that their father isn’t coming home but also understand he was a well-loved individual and are comforted by the community’s response to his death.

Jonathan Scott Pine, a three-year deputy with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, was working the midnight shift when he was shot and killed while pursuing a suspected car burglar on foot in the Westminster Landing subdivision off Apopka-Vineland Road east of Windermere. The shooter, Benjamin Holtermann, 28, killed himself after fatally wounding Pine.

IN REMEMBRANCE

Earlier this year, the Board of County Commissioners approved a request to name a future District 1 park after Pine.

The land, currently known as the Dorman Property off Ficquette Road, will be named Deputy Scott Pine Community Park, according to Matt Suedmeyer, manager of the county’s Parks and Recreation Division. Orange County and Orange County Public Schools will share the 19.5-acre park, which will have two multi-purpose fields. One is for soccer, and the other will serve as the off-site football stadium for West Orange High School’s recently approved relief school.

Suedmeyer said the park should be ready in 2018, and a dedication ceremony will mark the completion. Signage and a commemorative plaque will bear Pine’s name, he said, although further details haven’t been finalized.

Groundbreaking and dedication ceremonies are planned. Bridget Pine said she and her children would be honored to attend.

“Deputy Pine’s unwavering commitment to serve and protect the citizens of Orange County will be eternalized in the naming of this park,” said Scott Boyd, District 1 Orange County commissioner.

In February, residents in Westminster Landing held a ceremony to dedicate their own park to the slain deputy, who died shortly after being shot in the neighborhood.

“The community was devastated,” said Nancy Shaffer, who sits on the board of the homeowners association. “We wanted to do something.”

Shaffer said many residents knew Pine because he frequently patrolled the subdivision. A committee was established, and many community members donated their services for the project.

In the park, near a playground and tennis courts, lies a concrete circle that has been there since the community was developed, Shaffer said. A star-shaped memorial was designed around this circle, with rows of four smaller concrete circles placed between the star points. A plaque bearing Pine’s name is positioned in the center of a blue ring.

About 200 family members and friends were present for the park dedication. Bridget Pine saw the memorial for the first time when it was unveiled by her children, her husband’s father and stepmother and members of the homeowners association.

“It’s just breathtaking,” she said. “It’s beautiful. My children know that that is ‘Daddy’s park,’ and it’s a very special place for us.”

Another homeowners association found a way to remember Pine, too. White commemorative signs paying tribute to Deputy Pine were placed atop street signs at five intersections in the Falcon Pointe subdivision in Gotha.

Pine’s name has been added to the Orange County Law Enforcement Memorial Monument at the county courthouse in Orlando and on Tallahassee’s memorial wall for fallen law enforcement. Next year, he will be included on the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Bridget and Scott, residents of West Orange County, were married for more than 10 years.

“I want the community to remember my husband as a man of God, a family man and a hero,” Bridget Pine said. “My husband, he lived by Matthew 5:16 — ‘Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven’ — and would want the community to do the same.”

Friends and strangers throughout West Orange County have reached out to the Pines in the last year.

“I (want people) to know that we are truly grateful for everything that they have done for us and for their continued support during this tragic time in our lives,” Bridget Pine said.

Contact Amy Quesinberry Rhode at [email protected].