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HomeMy WebLinkAboutELLIOTT - BRISON PARK SUPPORT LETTER, LONGER ORIGINALCarla Porter Elliott 1213 Winding Rd. College Station, Texas 77840 September 23, 2024 Texas Recreation and Park Society 18593 RM 1431 Jonestown, TX 78645 Dear TRAPS: I am a long-time resident of College Station, Texas, and am writing in support of our city’s park, Brison Park, receiving recognition as a Lone Star Legacy Park. Please find my letter of support below. Sincerely, Carla P. Elliott Brison Park: My Childhood Sanctuary It is both easy and a privilege to tell you how much this beautiful little park has meant to me over my lifetime. My parents moved to College Station in the early 1960s, I was 5 years old, and our first home was a short bike ride away from Brison Park. There at Brison Park, my younger sister and I spent untold and unsupervised hours playing among the trees and flowers that to this day, still fill that park. Over the last six decades, memories of being at Brison Park with my friends and family have woven themselves into the fabric of my life. I spent more hours than I can remember alone and with friends inside Brison Park. Whether climbing trees like the one that grows not too far from the bridge and still extends its majestic limbs all the way to the ground, offering every passing child an invitation to high adventure, or simply chasing through the park’s grassy fields with my old and some now long-gone friends, I have many fond memories of the countless hours in the park. There were three landmark events that I have recalled over the years many times. Two with great fondness and sentiment, one with a little fear and trepidation. The first happened in 1965, at age 8. My Brownie Girl Scout Troop held a bridging ceremony at the park. For those who don’t know, a bridging ceremony is the formal recognition of “bridging” from a Brownie Scout to a Junior Scout, and Brison Park just happens to have the perfect bridge for such an occasion. In those days, neighborhood kids informally referred to the bridge as, “Billy Goat Bridge.” So, on a Saturday morning, our troop lined up single file and literally crossed over that little rickety wooden bridge one by one to receive our Girl Scout pins and begin new adventures in scouting. Mrs. Kitty Worley, our fearless leader, proudly handed out pins, shook our hands and welcomed us into this new level of scouting. Looking back, our park, with its little wooden bridge, was the perfect setting for this big event in our lives. Then, a couple of years later, my friends and I found ourselves in the park just after a torrential downpour. The rain had left the creek bed swollen with rapid waters and two of us decided it would be fun to go and travel down the creek a while. It only sounded fun in theory. Once in and having traveled a couple of football fields down, I was petrified. Fortunately, we were able to grab an overhanging tree branch and pull ourselves out. The experience was both traumatic and an adventure and something I didn’t talk about until I was grown. After I had children and introduced them to the park, they were fascinated by the creek story. Then a couple of years later, in the winter of 1973, College Station experienced a heavy snowstorm; something I’d never seen in this town. It passed through leaving the town paralyzed and the schools closed. Every kid was thrilled to have 2 snow days and spent most of those days outside. After surveying the area, and at my mom’s suggestion, I decided that a trip to Brison Park would be fun. So, I grabbed my mom’s cookie sheet and headed for the small slopes on the north side of the park. For four hours I “sledded” down that slope, until my hands and nose were frozen. I’d never seen anything as beautiful as the park in the snow, it was magical. I’ve long since graduated from Texas A&M, and left town for several years returning to College Station in the late 1990s. My home is still within a mile or so from the park and I continue to spend time there, mostly walking and enjoying the nature that surrounds it. When my son was little, he also spent many days playing there with friends who were lucky enough to live directly across from the park. I marvel at the fact that the bridge is still there – improved and with an official sign that reads “Billy Goats Bridge.” The beautiful, open greenspace with 100-year-old oaks and that same meandering creek are comfort and home to me. Time may pass but my memories of this exquisite park remain vivid, and I’m so grateful that it has endured and that our community continues to relax and enjoy this little piece of heaven. I can’t think of another space that is more deserving of the Lone Star Legacy Park designation.