Dan Wakefield Park
Dan and his Shortridge High School friends and classmates
Front Row: Dan Wakefield, Senator Richard Lugar, Mayor Joe Hogsett, Linda Broadfoot
Back Row: Phyllis Boyd, Will Higgins, Cousin Paula Hull
Dan with Dayana, co-owner of “Taste of Havana” in Broad Ripple
Pat Chastain, Senator Richard Lugar, and Dan
Travis diNicola speaking to the crowd
“If you live long enough, everything will happen to you.”
– Fanny Howe
The idea for the 61st and Broadway Park being named for me was conceived and carried out by Pat Chastain who didn’t know me. No one who knew me would have imagined such a thing. Pat just liked my books, and made it all happen.The whole thing was enhanced and elevated by Senator Lugar coming in from Washington. He has been a true friend of our Shortridge Class of ’50.
I had forgotten I wrote about the Park in a positive way in Going All The Way – I had forgotten that, but will Higgins pointed it out to me.
I was proud of the friends who read and spoke: Travis diNicola of IndyReads, Will Higgins of The Star, Barb Shoup director of Indiana Writers Center, and Phyllis Boyd of GroundworksIndy. Also a great honor to have Mayor Joe Hogsett come, and Linda Broadfoot, head of Parks Board.
– Dan