Veterans Memorial Park dedication ceremonies highlight Memorial Day in Erie County
A special Memorial Day dedication will take place Monday at 2 p.m. at Erie County Veterans Memorial Park, which is located on Glenwood Park Avenue, just west of Veterans Stadium.
If you haven’t visited the park, which has monuments honoring Erie soldiers who fought in three wars during the 20th century, be sure to take time to walk the tidy grounds.
A memorial service will follow the playing of the national anthem by Northcoast Brass Band. The World War I memorial will add the names of 19 more veterans who fought in that conflict, and a new sign for the park will be unveiled.
More: Erie region to honor military members with Memorial Day parades, ceremonies
● Plenty of holiday activities are scheduled for Monday, including a full day of festivities at Waldameer Park & Water World, which will be open on a Monday for the first time this year. Workers there are mourning longtime Waldameer owner Paul Nelson, who died May 21 at the age of 89.
Nelson had worked at the park since he was 11 years old, and he was a familiar figure at the region’s premiere amusement park.
Nelson often talked about his plans three decades to retire from the park and move to Florida, but after three weeks there, he returned to Erie and made bold plans for Waldameer.
The first things he did was sell the hard-carved figures on the merry-go-round, which brought money he used to build Waldameer’s water park. Nelson rededicated his efforts to enhance the park with new rides, including an award-winning rollercoaster.
He often joked about visiting his bank to ask how much money he could borrow. Aided by Steve Gorman, his son-in-law, Nelson completely rejuvenated Waldameer. He also volunteered for many worthy projects in the community and was widely respected. He was an Erie original.
More: Paul Nelson, who made his Waldameer Park & Water World an Erie treasure, dies at 89
● Erie native Pat Monahan was saddened by the death of Tina Turner, with whom he collaborated on two songs for her album, “Tina! Her Greatest Hits.” Monahan enjoyed a warm relationship with Turner and visited her at her home in Switzerland.
More: Tina Turner, queen of rock 'n' roll, dies after long illness
● Congratulations to Vicki Ferrence Ray on her appointment as executive director of Cadets Art & Entertainment, which oversees all activities for the Cadets Drum Corps.
One of the most honored drum corps and marching units in North America, the Cadets recently moved to Erie from their longtime home in Allentown. It is headquartered at Erie Sports Center.
More: Will a sports academy bring Erie worldwide recognition? Sports Center owner believes so
● When he spoke at an Erie Boys & Girls Club dinner in 1988, Dick Schaap, the national broadcaster and writer, told a funny story about his scariest moment in sports. At Cornell, Schaap tended goal on the school’s lacrosse team, and he said he would always remember the look in Jim Brown’s eyes as he bore down him.
Schaap said there was no stopping Brown on the lacrosse field or the football field, and it was best if you just tried to stay out of his way.
In 1964, when Brown and Paul Horning appeared at Art Arkelian’s annual sports banquet in Erie, neither could have been more hospitable. Brown, the great Cleveland Browns star, was known to be a taciturn type, but he graciously took time to sign autographs and pose for photos with any kid who asked.
Brown was a complicated man who mistreated several women in his life, but the kids he met that night in Erie will never forget him. Brown died May 18 at 87.
More: Jim Brown was a Hollywood legend, an activist and highly flawed. 'I do what I want to do'
● Several old friends of Girard native Bob Stubbe remembered him during the recent PGA Championship at Rochester’s Oak Hill County Club. Bob served as president of the club and was responsible for attracting a PGA championship and a Ryder Cup to Oak Hill. He died in 2005.
● Kalamazoo, Michigan’s gain is Erie’s loss, as Monsignor Ed Lohse was recently appointed Catholic bishop there by Pope Francis. Lohse, who grew up on a farm in McKean and attended Cathedral Prep and Gannon University, has served as vicar general of Erie’s Catholic diocese.
He’s also been the pastor of St. Julia Church, where he’s become a popular figure. Lohse is well liked and respected not only in Erie, but also in Rome where he worked for several years. He’s been a big help to Monsignor Tom McSweeney, the person in charge of promoting the late Gertrude Barber for sainthood.
More: Pope names Erie priest bishop of Diocese of Kalamazoo, Michigan
● Tom Hagen wore a big smile last week when his granddaughter, Neena Hagen, wrote the lead article in the May 21 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on the decline of West Mifflin’s Century III Mall. Neena Hagen is the newspaper’s chief investigative reporter, and her grandpa gets a big kick every time she breaks a big story.
● Ray Bertone, who died May 20 at the age of 97, was a World War II veteran who put in nearly 40 years as industrial relations manager at what was formerly known as Erie Resistor. Ray was a great family man, who with his late wife, Ellen, raised six kids. He was a terrific guy and will be missed.
Kevin Cuneo can be reached at Kevin.Cuneo1844@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie County PA Veterans Memorial Park dedication a holiday highlight
