Jennifer Carson
Founder
Jennifer Carson is the Founder of The Children’s Park of Tyler. She and her husband moved to Tyler in 1998. After losing their son Braden, God called her to build The Children’s Park. She is passionate about creating safe spaces for people to be seen and known, especially when grieving the loss of a child. Her greatest treasure is her family including her husband, two sons, daughter and daughter-in-law.
Jennifer graduated with her BS Degree from Texas A&M University, MS Degree in Physical Therapy from Texas Woman’s University and a MS Degree in Mental Health and Wellness from Grand Canyon University. She is also a Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach.
Eloise Ghrist
Executive Director
Before joining The Children’s Park Board in January 2021, Eloise was a full time stay at home mom for 10 years to her 3 boys, and one rainbow baby girl. They range in age from 2 to 11 years old. She will celebrate 18 years of marriage with her husband, Joel, this year! Prior to having children, she was a middle school special education teacher at CHMS. While being a SAHM, she served in leadership at MOPS, Square One, and her school PTA board. She became the Executive Director in August 2022.
After losing her 4th and 5th pregnancies in 2018 & 2019, Eloise found herself at Glory Babies, where she has been mentored by Jennifer, our founder, ever since. Over the past 4 years, she’s done a lot of growing through her grief, through our support groups and counseling. Eloise has a passion for helping families find purpose through their pain. She loves coming alongside other women and empowering them to not just survive but thrive in whatever season they’re going through.
Megan Grimes
Programs Manager
A native of Tyler, Texas, Megan loves the caring community Tyler offers. After graduating from The University of Texas at Tyler, Megan spent two years teaching in Tyler’s sister city, Yachiyo, Japan. She also enjoys enriching the lives of others through volunteer positions at church and as a member of PEO (Philanthropic Educational Organization). She is a certified yoga instructor who uses yoga to process her personal grief. In 2018 she unexpectedly lost her husband at the hands of a drunk driver leaving her to raise their four young children. Deep grief can be a life changing experience. It is Megan’s hope that she can positively touch people’s lives to bring them comfort and help them grow through their grief.
Paula Habblett
Operations Manager
Paula moved to Tyler in 2015 from a small town in the foothills of northern California. She currently lives in Bullard with her doggie Lily. She attends South Spring Baptist Church where she ran their GriefShare program for 6 years. She is a widow with 3 daughters, 2 sons-in-law and 1 granddaughter in the area. She loves to be out in nature for walks or hikes or just to enjoy sitting by one of our many lakes.
She is now the Operations Manager and loving her job. She loves the park and all that it offers to hurting people. She looks forward to using her GriefShare background to continue the good work started here.
Board Members
Pauletta Bonner
Board President
Pauletta is a Wealth Advisor, founding partner of Income Solutions Wealth Management, and a 35-year veteran in financial services. However, to her five grandchildren, she’s “Mama B.” She began serving on the Board of The Children’s Park in 2020, and we’ve been blessed by her leadership ever since. Pauletta moved to the piney woods of East Texas in 1982, and loves the family-centered, thriving and giving community of Tyler. She is a member of the Women’s Fund of Smith County, and also serves as Board President of Christian Women’s Job Corps of Tyler. Pauletta is a proud mother of three married children, a church organist, women’s Bible study facilitator, and speaker at local women’s groups. The Children’s Park of Tyler has provided both sanctuary and support to Pauletta’s family in processing and finding purpose in grief.
Karen Crawford
Vice President
Karen graduated from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, with a degree in Elementary Education. After teaching in San Antonio for several years, Karen and her family moved to Tyler in 1976. She continued her teaching career in Tyler public and private schools while earning a M.Ed. in Educational Administration from UT Tyler. Having served as a classroom teacher, instructional technology specialist, and elementary assistant principal for over 27 years, Karen retired from public education and worked for an additional ten years at Mentoring Minds, a local educational publishing company, as a writer of mathematics curriculum materials, becoming fully retired in 2017. Karen is the mother of three grown children, and a grandmother to two beautiful granddaughters. Karen served on the Board of Directors of Champions for Children for 7 years, serving as the president for three years. She is currently a member of the Bethesda Alliance and is a longtime member of Marvin United Methodist Church. Karen’s interest in The Children’s Park stems from a family loss of a child at birth in the early 1950’s. Sadly, at that time, the death of a child was treated very differently than today, and there were no resources for grief support for such a tragic loss. Karen has chosen to support The Children’s Park to honor the memory of a younger brother whom she never knew.
Valerie Arnold
Treasurer
Valerie has lived in Tyler since 1993 after meeting her future husband, Terry, in Youth With A Mission (YWAM). Together they founded Daystar Electric and worked together for 29 years. Valerie worked in Tyler Christian Fellowship school helping kindergarteners in the reading lab. She then went on to serve as the Administrative Assistant then Principal of the school for three years until resigning to have their daughter, Alaina. Outreach Christian Fellowship, a missionary sending organization, was a wonderful opportunity to serve again with world missions. She handled bookkeeping and missionary donations there for three years. She is excited to now serve on The Children’s Park Board as Treasurer. Being able to use her experience and skills in accounting and report generating is a rewarding fit in order to comfort others who have experienced the loss of a child.
Jessica DeVilbiss
Secretary
Up until November 2017 Jessica had just been a visitor only of the Childrens Park. Born and raised in Tyler Tx, it was a beautiful place to visit, take pictures, and enjoy the scenery. After giving birth to her stillborn son in late 2017, Jessica started to attend Glory Babies. Hurt people, hurt people and she knew she needed the extra help to cope with his death.She now helps co-facilitate the Glory Babies group, the Rainbow Babies group and serves as a board member. Honored, and grateful are the words that she will say when asked about the work she does at the park, and she loves giving back all of the beautiful wisdom on grief that she has learned over the years. Now, The Childrens park is beyond a place to just visit, its a place to honor and learn and grow as a person. Jessica is a proud wife, mom and business owner. She was blessed with a Rainbow baby boy and a precious bonus son.
Lisa Lujan
Board Member
Lisa was born and raised in the beautiful landscape of the Southwest in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She made her way to the piney woods of East Texas after she married Michael Lujan, and they moved to Tyler in 1995. In 2003, they co-founded Mentoring Minds to partner with principals and teachers across the country and provide educational products that improve student achievement and teach critical thinking. Lisa is driven by her commitment to family, especially her two adult daughters, Michelle and Monica, who grew up in Tyler and inspire their parents every day. Lisa believes in the vital work The Children’s Park is doing after the loss of their daughter Melissa in 2020. She experienced first-hand the importance of having a place to grieve and having a place to honor their daughter. Lisa enjoys giving back to the community and while she and Michael no longer live in Tyler, she remains involved with the Children’s Park because it is so important to her family.
Anna Zumwalt
Board Member
Anna Zumwalt is a super happy and proud Tyler native who, after living all over the nation, decided to come back home to raise her children in Whitehouse. She is happily married to Johnathan and the proud momma of two children, Elizabeth and Josiah. Being raised in Tyler, Anna has deeply loved the Children’s Park since its inception and has advocated for it throughout the years even when not living here. She is honored to be a part of this board and help spread awareness about this space that offers an incredible sanctuary and opportunity for life! In 2023 she was able to take part in her first Day of Remembrance honoring Julee and Micah, her two children who were born into heaven through miscarriage. With her marketing background and sincere love for people, she is excited to love well and help the Children’s Park become an even greater blessing to this city and beyond. She invests her time outside of the board with a thriving career in health and wellness. She is a Marriage Support Group Expert for an online intensive support group, and she is the host of the podcast, More Life with Anna Luz. Anna is passionate about life, regardless of circumstance or season.
Jerry Drake
Board Member
Jerry moved to East Texas in 2017 met his beautiful wife Jordan and married in 2019. They had their first son in 2020, then were expecting their second son in 2021 when they received the news that their second son had a genetic mutation called Trisomy 13. This diagnosis means at a genetic level their son was “not compatible with life.” They choose to keep the pregnancy knowing that if they got to meet their son, Everett, they would most likely have just a few hours with him. They were blessed with three wonderful days.
Six months after the passing of Everett Jerry and Jordan started attending Glory Babies support group at the Children’s Park. The love, support, and understanding that they found at Glory Babies helped them move forward in their grieving process, where before they were stuck. Now after years of healing that started in Alison’s house Jerry wants to give back to the organization that helped save his family from the despair of losing a child. Jerry hopes that his efforts as a board member of the Children’s Park will help others find the same healing and support in their darkest moments. .
Carly Wadle
Board Member
Carly Wadle is native East Texan, wife, mother, public health professional, and educator. Carly leads many research initiatives at The University of Texas at Tyler, with a passion for advancing healthcare throughout Northeast Texas and creating change within her community. Carly strives to be a voice for those in need, and to intentionally connect to those facing health challenges. Carly serves on the board for The Children’s Park of Tyler because the Children’s Park served as a sanctuary of belonging during her motherhood journey, and Carly wants to give back to others who are grieving the loss of a child or facing other postpartum circumstances. Because of her commitment to advocacy, Carly brings a wealth of experience to The Children’s Park of Tyler.
CONTRIBUTORS
The Children’s Park of Tyler is entirely supported by the gifts and generosity of others. They give of their resources and invest their time to ensure grieving families in our community never walk that journey alone.