The Tom and Mary Schultz Family YMCA opened its doors to the City of Watertown and surrounding communities in early November. A Nov. 10 2025 article that appeared in the Watertown Daily Times described the event: If the grand opening were not enough, it was the 10-year anniversaries of the Greater Watertown Community Community Health Foundation and its partnership with Water- town Regional Medical Center.
But before the ribbon was cut for the YMCA facility, WRMC CEO Richard Keddington wanted to point out proof of the partnership’s achievements.
“In 2016, and again this year, we built a senior behavioral health unit,” he said. “We’ve updated the rehabilitation and therapy space in 2021. We purchased three surgical robots in the last three years. These will allow us to do surgeries right here in Watertown that we wouldn’t have done beforehand and do them with great quality of care.
“In 2023, we renovated the catheter lab and also, in 2023, we built a pain management clinic. We also a bought a new MRI machine to have here for the community. ”
He said the partnership also has allowed them to invest in the terms of the community of economic development.
“We can think a lot about payroll,” Keddington said. “In the first 10 years in our partnership, we averaged over $48 million in payroll out to employees.”
GWCHF President and CEO Ben Wehmeier and GWCHF Chief Transformation Officer Tina Crave spoke about the partnership, too.
“This community didn’t just create a foundation,” Wehmeier said. “It ignited the shared belief every child or family in our region deserves the opportunity to thrive. The celebration isn’t about an organization. It’s about a community that chose to work differently, to dream bigger and to bold, to innovate, and to collaborate and leave egos at the door, and come together on one simple question: What’s best for our communities and people of our region? Today it’s about the story, but it’s our story. And that’s what’s possible when a region unites for a common good.”
Tom Schultz, the longtime Managing Editor of the Daily Times, took the podium. “I think most of you know Barton Bentzin and their foundations made a significant donation to the YMCA,” he said. “I’ve known his
family for decades and decades. When we get a good project, I talk to Bart and go through things and usually, he’ll say ‘Yeah, I think that’s a good idea. Let’s get a little more information on it.’ This one he said, ‘Geez, Tom, that’s a lot of money. I don’t know.’”
Schultz said he told YMCA Chief Executive Officer Jon Lange that Bentzin was going to support the project but didn’t know how much.
“As it turned out I had no idea Jon was working with this guy. I had no idea,” Schultz’s voice cracked as he was struck with emotion. “One day, Jon says ‘You have to see the progress of the YMCA and I get in one of the offices and Jon says, ‘Someone wants to talk to you.’ And there’s Bart. That’s when he told us what he was doing. It’s simply amazing.”
Schultz said that Bentzin wants to make Watertown a place people envy.
“We just love the community,” Schultz said. “We just love the progress that is going on here. This new YMCA is a testament to the wonderful people in Watertown. Thanks to everybody for making this day more special than you’ll ever know for us.”
