Rainwater Harvesting

Organic Ecosystem Ponds

Pondless Waterfalls

Urn and Fountain Features

Water-Wise Landscapes

Meet Your Water Feature Professionals

Texas Ponds and

Water Features

Hail to the Chief

Rosenberg, Texas honors a native son with a water feature.

My grandfather, C.H. Boring, spent the majority of his life as a member the Rosenberg Fire Department, twenty six years of which he served as chief.  In those years he and his team of firefighters won many awards, honors and competitions while growing the department to be one of the best in the state for this size city.  He taught at the Texas A&M Fire School for seven years and helped fight the famous Texas City Fire of April 16, 1947.  He ran for and was elected President of the Texas State Fireman’s and Fire Marshall’s Association and is currently to oldest surviving Past President of this distinguished organization.  The department never lost a man in the line of duty, and that fact ranks among the proudest of his achievements.

When the time came for the city to honor this very special individual, I very much wanted to be a part.  Since I am a Certified Aquascape Contractor and a Rosenberg businessman, I volunteered to donate a pond-less waterfall to the city in his name.  I figured that this option would be better for city employees since pond-less waterfalls are practically maintenance-free.  I contacted Nancy Telasek, a close friend of the family and a Rosenberg City Councilperson, with my offer.  After coming to look at my backyard to assess my pondbuilding skills, she enthusiastically agreed to get the idea moving through the city government.  In addition, she coordinated with the volunteer firemen to help make this a complete monument rather than just a water feature. 

Within a few weeks she got back to me.  The city had approved the project and given us a location.  To my surprise, it was in the traffic island at the entrance to a city park.  Then she really blew me away when she told me that her family and the volunteer firemen were donating a miniature bronze statue of a fireman and a stone plaque that would be integrated into the area as well.   I decided to bring down the size of the waterfall a bit so as to keep things proportional and to curve a small stream around the statue and plaque.  We had to work fast though, because after getting the permit for construction, we only had a few days till my Grandpa was to be honored at the adjacent Civic Center.  He was visiting from Hawaii and as far as he knew, was just having coffee with some of his firemen. 

I contacted Whiz-Q Stone in Fort Worth, my Pro-Pond Distributor, and as usual with Whiz-Q, had the waterfall kit in my hands the next day.  I figured we could install it in a day, even though it would be the first pond-less for my assistant Armando and me.  We’ve built so many ponds together that I knew this would be a breeze– no pond to shelve or skimmer to install, but at the same time I wanted to take the time to make this one really special.  We dug the reservoir, installed the MicroSnorkel and Centipede, pump and check valve, rock and gravel, and began working up the stream toward the BIOFALLS.  After setting a couple of character boulders on the sides, it was easy to use the rocks we had set aside to construct the small waterfall.  I hooked up the auto-fill valve to the water source and we were finished with only three days before the big bash.  The traffic island was completely bare, but Home Depot had donated plants and the City of Rosenberg took care of planting them.  Meanwhile, Nancy and her son installed the concrete base for the statue. 

The dedication day was at hand and Grandpa still didn’t have a clue as to what was going to happen.  He may have had an inkling when he arrived to see a good portion of the parking lot full and even a couple of fire trucks parked out front.  Inside, spread over several tables were Fire Department scrapbooks chronicling the decades of memories and achievements.  Most of his family was there and many friends and fellow firefighters.  Even the Mayor was there and read a lengthy proclamation listing many of his life’s achievements and declaring the day as C.H. Boring Day throughout the city.  Grandpa wasn’t the only one a little choked up after that.  There was hardly a dry eye in the house when he got up to thank everyone for coming and for all the happy memories that were brought back that day. 

After he was finished speaking, his old friend and fellow firefighter Allen Scopel told him, “Wait, C.H., there’s a little more.”  He told him that a monument and water feature had been installed at the park next door as a lasting tribute to this man who spent his life serving this community.  The plaque wasn’t finished yet, so one of the firemen woodburned a copy for him to take home to Hawaii.  Although it was the hottest part of the afternoon, he wanted to go see what we had made, so a group of us made the short jaunt over to the park so he could check it out. 

The statue is facing back toward the city, forever keeping a silent vigil over the town that Grandpa kept watch over for so many years.  The engraved stone plaque was later installed at the base of the statue and reads, “In Honor of C.H. Boring Jr.,  Rosenberg Fire Department 1937-1981, State Firemen’s and Fire Marshals’ Association of Texas President 1961.”  The tiny waterfall sits indiscreetly nearby with the small stream curving gently around them both.  Daylilies and Agapanthus were installed in the area behind the monument and marginal aquatic plants were already growing in the small stream, helping to complete the look. 

When I went to my first ‘Build-A-Pond’ Day six years ago and started building Aquascape ponds, I never dreamed that I’d someday have the chance to do something like this to honor the man who’s always been my hero.  Thank you Greg and ADI for the top-notch easy-to-use equipment and the know-how to build natural-looking water features.  Water gardening has changed my life.  Thanks to you I had a chance to play a part in my Grandpa’s very special day and was allowed to do something special for the city that I’ll always consider home. 

Matt Boring’s company, TexasPonds.com is a Certified Aquascape Contractor.  He’s known as ‘The Natural Water Gardener’ and writes monthly articles about  water gardening in The Dirt Doctor’s ‘Dirt’ magazine.  Dirtdoctor.com