Cecil's Park

When I first scrutinized the over one hundred and fifty pictures of people and activities at Cecil’s park that Amy Bostick sent to post on my blog site, I felt not nostalgia but regret since when I was growing up the park didn’t exist. We went to Cecil’s to ride his Model T to the ball park by the railroad and to ride it while he dragged the all dirt infield.

When not practicing baseball, we played cards in his old house, and he took us tout line fishing, later cooking the catch in big, black pots at the ball park. We camped out though I can’t recall where, and he took us to Memphis to Rickwood Park to see the Chicks play, and then to the zoo at Overton Park. The only photograph I have of any of these activities is a picture of Larry Mims and me in a cardboard cutout jail.

At some point Cecil tore down his old house and built the new one and cut down several trees and built a clay tennis court, and we played tennis, though I was usually just a spectator. I was away from Plantersville when Cecil began to develop his park and missed the horse back rides, the checker matches, the ping pong, basketball and football games and all the other activities.

But after contemplation, regret gives way to gratitude. I had an opportunity to spend more intimate moments with Cecil than some who followed; there were never more than three or four boys (yes,only boys), playing at his house, or going on trips with him, not the scores of boys and girls who came later.

All of us who grew up in Plantersville during Cecil’s years have our own special memories of spending time at his place and with him.