Beauty among us

Heads up. Don't miss it. Check out the planted and tended beauty spot on the east end of Hillcrest as you head down West 5th street. The green of spring has arrived as the bulbed flowers, tulips and jonquils, show their welcome colors. The thinned and manicured lilac bushes are leafing out and will be showing their fragrant flowers in short order. It is worth the drive past and next time you see Don Harpst tell him thanks.

A bit of history. In days of yore, the Red Willow Commissioners decided to build an "Old Folks" home. Happily a local family, Wackers as I remember, donated a bit of worthless, unbuildable ground on the north side of the city-owned auditorium. Build they did and the priceless asset began operation as Hillcrest Nursing Home. Success and then it needed to expand and expand once again. Now a nursing home has special needs and a one level floor to accommodate wheelchairs, walkers, that sort of thing is essential. Only one way to expand and that was to the east where the surface of the lot dropped away rather quickly. Ah ha, build the expansion as a second story, put in an elevator and put the laundry in the lower level.

Enter administrator Don Harpst. Why not occupy that vacant lower level space by providing a day care/nursery for the convenience of the young ladies hired as nurses and assistants? Great idea and it was done. Still lots of vacant room unneeded for storage. Don hatched a plan to build spacious lovely apartments for a new category of patients called "Assisted Living" especially for the spouses of the "Intensive Care" patients living above. Hidden Pines, great idea, great plan and beautifully executed. Talk about "Turning a lemon into lemonade!"

Administrator Don rightfully perceived that the rapidly dropping ground between the east end of the "new" addition sloping to the street was rather unsightly. He appealed to the County. Being a Commissioner at the time I directed my road crews to find fill dirt to raise the surface and shape it as Don requested. Done. An underground sprinkler system was installed (not too sure about that one) and grass planted. Then on the portion too steep to mow Don created terraces to plant various shrubs, mainly lilacs which do well, and various flowers. Vola the formerly unsightly area is now a place of beauty.

Some years ago Don retired from the administrator job but has since continued to volunteer to keep "his" garden beauty spot looking good. And who paid for the improvements, the decorative stone walls to make the terraces, the nursery stock to make the place one to be proud of? All the labor to trim the shrubs, fertilize and each season? Why yes thank you, Don!

Have you noticed the straight rows of large pine trees shading the street side of the Red Willow County Fairgrounds? A neighboring farmer when I was a kid was responsible. Henrich "Heinie" Kisker after retiring from farming took over maintenance of the fairgrounds in the 1960s. Heinnie saw to the planting and hoeing and watering of all those trees which now are a foot plus in diameter. Heinnie and his young helpers worked--we enjoy.

One of the most enjoyable city parks in McCook is the portion of Kelley Park known as Bolles Canyon. Steve Bolles worked for CB&Q railroad from the late 1800s until 1938. After retirement, he had a passion for volunteering to improve the city's parks. He had a gardener's love for peonies and evidently a strong desire to plant trees. That prairie canyon that runs from O Street at the Weiland Football stadium north into the greater Kelley Creek canyon was an eyesore plain, bare and hot. Bolles, sometimes helped by grand-nephew Jack Lytle, planted every young tree he could get his hands on. Cottonwood, Elm, American and Chinese, western cedar, willow, hackberry, at least one ornamental in brilliant bloom at present and I'm sure more that maybe didn't make it. It wasn't transplant and leave! Each had to be weeded around and watered until established. The canyon had been dammed where the walking trail is today and hence silted in to become level across the bottom. When it was decided to drain the resulting pond, Steve saw to planting grass. Presently the City crews water and tend the lawn across the bottom that makes a nice shaded place for people to picnic, kids to play and Grannie and I even attended a beautiful outdoor wedding there. Bolles Canyon is also the site chosen for McCook's state of the art Skatepark. Yet today the once unsightly canyon still functions as an essential channel to funnel storm drain water down to join the waters of Kelley Creek in addition to being a place of respite from the cares of the world.

All the above done by people who care. Efforts by a few for the benefit of all to make our community a better place. We are blessed.

That is how I saw it.

Dick Trail