Sunnyside Trail Named For Late Middletown Girl, Lexi Mason

LINCROFT, NJ — Now anyone who visits Sunnyside will remember this young Middletown resident, taken before her time.

This past Tuesday, Monmouth County dedicated a walking trail at Sunnyside Recreation Area in honor of the late Alexis “Lexi” Mason, a young Middletown girl who died six years ago while running in that park.

In 2013, Lexi died while running on a trail with her soccer team. She was only 12 years old at the time. Lexi collapsed after she went into sudden cardiac arrest on July 23, 2013, while on a training run with St. Mary’s Soccer Club, the Asbury Park Press reported.

Every year the Mason family, who live in Middletown, return to the spot where she died to release a collection of purple balloons in their daughter's memory. This year, the Monmouth County Park System named the walking trail in Lexi’s honor. They also unveiled a plaque with Lexi's name and her story on it. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, as well as Monmouth County freeholders, were in attendance on Tuesday evening.

“It is never easy losing someone from your community, especially when that resident is so young,” said Freeholder Gerry P. Scharfenberger, the former mayor of Middletown. “This remarkable family was able to channel their grief into charitable work in Lexi’s honor. I would like to thank the Mason family for including the freeholders in this tribute to their daughter.”

There is now an engraved plaque on a boulder declaring a section of the park as the "Alexis T. Mason Trail" that will serve as a permanent marker to honor her life.

July 23 is now Alexis "Lexi" Mason Day in Middletown Township.

In their daughter’s honor, the Mason family created the Alexis Mason Foundation in 2013 to celebrate Lexi’s life, inspiration and kindness. The Alexis Mason Foundation awards scholarships to children for sports, arts and academics. The Foundation also makes donations to both the American Heart Association and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for their continued work in heart research. For more information about the Alexis Mason Foundation, visit www.alexismasonfoundation.com.

Lexi loved dance, and she also played softball in addition to soccer, according to the foundation. In the summers, she sold lemonade as part of Alex’s Lemonade Stand, to raise money for childhood cancer patients.

She was born in Edison and her father, Rob, is an Edison firefighter.

“It means everything to us,” her father said Tuesday, according to the APP. “I had a vision to have a boulder and this trail named in her honor to be here long after we all are gone. Now people can come and see that she was there. The boulder was really important to me because it’s granite and it’s not going anywhere. Granite is the hardest stone, so it lasts forever. It’s going to be here 200 years from now, and that’s quite an honor for us.”

“It is truly amazing to witness the love of the Mason family through their annual celebrations of Lexi’s life and I am humbled to be a part of this dedication ceremony this year,” said Freeholder Lillian G. Burry, liaison to the Monmouth County Park System. “This plaque at the trailhead will serve as a commemoration for her family, friends and the Middletown and Monmouth County communities.”