A couple days ago, I posted about some of my old friends from the Student Texas Recreation and Parks Society (STRAPS). One of those was Dan Whitworth, who died too young in 2003. At the time of his death, Dan, a Corpus Christi native, was the director of the city's Park and Recreation Department. After his death, the Corpus Christi City Council voted to rename Meadowbrook Park in his honor, and a memorial and meditation area funded by donations was dedicated on November 13, 2004. On a recent visit to Corpus Christi, we stopped and took some pictures at the park.
"To leave the world a bit better,...To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."
That describes my friend Dan - as does "instantly likeable and unforgettable," and "contrary to ordinary."
Daniel Lawrence Whitworth was born in Corpus Christi, Texas to Wallace Earl and Bernice Bertmann Whitworth on April 12, 1953, one of their ten children. He married Marialice Ann Rodgers on August 13, 1977, in their hometown of Corpus Christi. They had two children, Joshua Daniel, born in 1981 (I was visiting in Austin at the time of his birth), and Megan Elizabeth, born in 1983 shortly before the family moved to Corpus Christi and Dan joined the Park and Recreation Department - about two years after I'd left that department and a year before I left the city.
A good buddy and a great friend - Dan Whitworth - may he rest in peace.
© Amanda Pape - 2016 - click here to e-mail me.
Exercise stations (above) and playground equipment (below) at the park.
Above: A picnic shelter at the park. Below: view of the memorial/meditation area from the street.
As you approach the memorial (above), an orange sign to the left catches your eye (below):
The memorial stone (above), and a close-up (below) with the quote from Emerson.
Above: the lower half of the memorial stone.
Below: a view looking back towards one of the two meditative areas from the memorial stone.
"To leave the world a bit better,...To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."That describes my friend Dan - as does "instantly likeable and unforgettable," and "contrary to ordinary."
Daniel Lawrence Whitworth was born in Corpus Christi, Texas to Wallace Earl and Bernice Bertmann Whitworth on April 12, 1953, one of their ten children. He married Marialice Ann Rodgers on August 13, 1977, in their hometown of Corpus Christi. They had two children, Joshua Daniel, born in 1981 (I was visiting in Austin at the time of his birth), and Megan Elizabeth, born in 1983 shortly before the family moved to Corpus Christi and Dan joined the Park and Recreation Department - about two years after I'd left that department and a year before I left the city.
A good buddy and a great friend - Dan Whitworth - may he rest in peace.
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