After the president of a small neighborhood group north of Leavenworth Road died last year, others in the group decided to carry on one of his projects.

   “Our neighborhood group does not have a neighborhood entrance sign like a lot of them do around town,” said Jalynda Cervantes, secretary of the Pomeroy Neighborhood Group.

   It was a project that Bob Parker Sr., 57, was working on when he unexpectedly died of heart problems Oct. 26, 2011.

   “Our goal is to carry this through in honor of him,” Cervantes said.

   The group currently is planning to place a sign on a triangle of ground near a bait shop near 79th and Leavenworth Road, west of Savage Drive, she said. The Pomeroy neighborhood takes its name from Pomeroy Drive, which is north of Leavenworth Road, not far from Wyandotte County Lake.

   “Our group had a discussion, and we wanted to pull the community together to see if somebody could come up with an idea for a sign,” she said.

   The group decided to award a $50 prize for the winning design, and send the contest entry information to area middle schools and high schools, as well as to send it to the public, she said. According to the contest rules, the sign must make a mention of Parker somewhere on it, along with the Pomeroy neighborhood name. The contest deadline is March 1, and for a copy of the contest rules, telephone 913-636-3044.

   Cervantes said the loss of Parker has been particularly difficult for the neighborhood group.

   “The hardest part has been the loss of Bob, and our group staying together. He was the heart of the group and when he passed, our group just felt empty,” she said.

   Lou Braswell, executive director of the Leavenworth Road Association, where Parker also served as webmaster, told the Pomeroy group to do whatever it takes to keep the group together.

   “I made a personal promise to myself that I was going to follow through,” Cervantes said.

   Since then, the Pomeroy group has chosen a new president, Kim Kooken, and gone forward with its community projects.

   A spring neighborhood cleanup is being planned for the Pomeroy area, where there is a lot of illegal dumping, she said.

   “Our major task is to see that our sign gets finished and put up,” Cervantes said.