Community comes together to build playground in memory of 9-month-old Anna Pubins
By Mackenzie Stafford
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Del Norte, Colo. (KRDO) — Anna Reid Pubins was born on April 21, 2024. In her short time on Earth, her life was filled with love.
Prior to her death, she was diagnosed by a pediatrician with the flu. However, Anna’s parents felt like there was something else going on. They say the doctors told them that viruses act strangely.
Anna’s family tells KRDO13 that she was a gift. They say she shone a bright light into their lives every day, lifting them up. Now that she’s no longer here, they say they find comfort in God’s love, knowing that she’s with him.
“She was never not in the arms of a family member. She was just surrounded by love. And so that brings comfort. But we know that she’s now in the loving arms of Jesus and that those arms that are holding her are the same arms that are holding us through this process, too,” explained Amanda Pubins.
The Pubins said Anna loved meals and her bath time at the end of the night. They say every morning she’d smile as the bright sun shone upon her and she knew her parents were there to wake her up. Anna’s family said they cherished every second with her. Her dad said he was enamoured by her beauty from the start.
“There were two instances, just in the last month, that I was just staring at her, and about ten minutes had passed, and I told Amanda, you have to take her away from me because I can’t stop looking at her,” recounted Anna’s father, Taylor Pubins, “She was gorgeous, just like her mother. Except she had blue eyes. And she and I just had a special language of just laughing together. So that’s what Anna was to me. It was just beauty and laughter.”
The community in Del Norte, CO, where Anna’s family lives, is coming together to raise money and build a bench and playground at a local park in Anna’s memory.
“It’s so humbling. It really is. We’re just. Well, we started out thinking, you know, bench for five, you know, for us to just go sit and reflect and remember Anna and all the joy she brought to our lives is now exploding into this,” shared Amanda Pubins.
They hope to share the joy that Anna brought to their lives with other families.
“That’s what Anna brought to our lives. And so we want everyone to be able to experience that as well. And in memory of Anna. So being able to have the bench and being able to have a little toddler playground just to remember her and be able to see just that joy and be able to pray for these families who get to go to this park and enjoy it, and who read Anna’s name on the bench and, and whatever piece of scripture we choose to put that that way, that they would feel light and and they would feel joy and they would feel, just everything that, you know, our Lord and Savior is to us and who Anna was to us in her time here,” shared Anna’s mother.
In Colorado, there have been two pediatric deaths linked to influenza since October 2024. It is unclear if 9-month-old Pubin’s death was caused by the flu. The Rio Grande coroner says an autopsy has been completed, however, the cause of death is still under investigation.
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