Leslie E. Tassell Park Dedication Speech

The following are remarks offered by Leslie E. Tassell (1908-2004) on the occasion of the dedication of the Leslie E. Tassell Park on October 4, 2001.
   

Dedication

    Let me begin by thanking all of you for coming here today for the dedication of your park.

    I am especially honored and so very pleased that you have allowed my name to be given to the park.  In a few more months, I will be 94 years old, God willing, and the opportunity to participate in the park's creation is a wonderful birthday present.  Thank you.

    I hope this becomes a place where people celebrate their families.  I encourage parents and grandparents from all over the area to bring children here to fish the river, to play in the fountains, to picnic and just spend time enjoying one each other.  Times like these will help make our community a place of strong, moral people.  Unfortunately, the tragic events of the past weeks underscore the importance and need for these kind of times together.

    The location here on the riverbank is perfect, and for that I must give a special acknowledgement to former Township Supervisor Wendell Champion and former Township Manager Carl Kerekes.  They had the foresight ten years ago to go house to house and acquire these parcels of property in the name of the citizens of Cascade.

    We can all see how beautiful the township has made the area around 28th Street and Cascade Road, and how it has helped give Cascade a sense of downtown.  This park will add immensely to that sense of having a downtown, or more appropriately, a town square.  When the people across the street named their restaurant "The Gathering Place" they didn't know just how right they were going to be.

    To every one who has participated in helping pay for the park, whether it was in the form of a building or brick, bless you.  You have been part of of one of the noblest of enterprises, that of creating something of lasting value.  Some of my friends who are here today have made a lifetime pursuit of doing that for all our benefits.

    Special thanks, though, must go to Rex and Joyce Kingsland for their wonderful donation of the boardwalk, which gives us our closest contact with the river.  And to Bob and Aleica Woodrick for their generous donation of the bronze sculpture "Circle of Peace", by Gary Price.  And to my own daughter and her husband, Joyce and Tom Wisner, for the pavilion they provided.

    Last, but not least, I want to thank my friend, Mike Julien.  He was the one who first approached me on the idea of participating in this park.  We had many, many meetings about this and he was the one who really got the ball rolling.  Mike and all of the Township staff have done a yeoman's job in getting the park this far along in such a short time.  We all thank you, Mike.

    We all appreciate any suggestions you have to help us continue to improve and beautify your park, and I thank you again for coming.