My family moved into a house across the street in 1946, but the park wasn't there yet. It was what was left of a dairy. My brother used to roam around there with his friends, but I was too young, only 2-4 years old. Then they built the park and I was a little older, so my friends and I spent a lot of time there. We played on the swings and the merry-go-round, and just ran around on the grass a lot. There was an asphalt circle about 20 feet across, and that's where I skated backwards for the first time when I was 9. They had dances for kids on weekend nights in the building, and one night Hazel Sutherland asked me to dance. I liked her, but had to decline because I didn't know how to dance. I started trying to learn after that, but never could get the hang of it. I did get the hang of skating though, I get very good at it and eventually speed skated and played roller hockey. When I was 16, I had moved away, but came back to go to the new roller skating rink on Rosecrans. While I was there I saw a familiar face. I asked my sis, who was with me, to ask her if she was Hazel Sutherland. She said she was Darlene Sutherland, but her middle name was Hazel. I was too shy and stupid to talk to her myself, but it was the same girl who had asked me to dance several years earlier. Apparently she had learned to speed skate too, 'cause she won the girls' race. I won the boys' race. But I never did talk to her. I wish I had. What does that have to do with Thornburg Park? Well it was nearby, but I'm just rambling. It happens at my age. Anyway, I really liked Thornburg Park when I was a kid. There, happy now? read more