Everlasting Legacy - NeighborWorks® Pocatello

Purce Park dedicated in honor of celebrated Gate City family

TAYLOR S. CALDER, Idaho State Journal
tcalder@journalnet.com

POCATELLO — Over 100 area residents attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony of Purce Park on Thursday.The event was held in honor of the Purce family and their many contributions to the Gate City community for decades.The iconic Purce family has had a significant community, cultural and oftentimes personal impact on the city of Pocatello. The many neighborhoods and families in the Gate City can often trace a personal connection back to the Purces.The city park, formerly known as Bonneville Community Park, had previously fallen into a state of disrepair. But thanks to a $40,000 grant from Wells Fargo and a $10,000 contribution from the Ifft Foundation, the park, located adjacent to the Pocatello Senior Activity Center, received a new name along with new playground equipment, benches, tables and bocce ball courts.Additional contributions were made by the city of Pocatello and its Parks and Recreation Department, which assisted with landscaping improvements, freshly planted flowers and other beautification efforts. NeighborWorks Pocatello, working in tandem with the Bonneville Neighborhood Association, was instrumental in transforming Purce Park from vision to reality.Surrounded by city officials, community leadership, friends, family and other loved ones, around 30 members of the Purce family, including matriarch Idaho Purce, were in attendance for a special ribbon- cutting ceremony. The local park will now be known as Purce Park in an expression of gratitude and thanks to the Purce’s legacy in the Gate City.After opening remarks from Mark Dahlquist, executive director of NeighborWorks Pocatello, and Alfreda Van, representing the Bonneville Neighborhood Association, along with contributing remarks from Pocatello Mayor Brian Blad, the time was turned over to four members of the Purce family — Les, Debra, Kelley and Kim Purce.”We’re so elated to be able to have so many friends that have come from so many districts, to be here with us and to share in the park,” said Les Purce. “Those of you that know mom and that knew dad know how committed they were to this community, to this neighborhood and the dream of community.”Les continued, “We’re grateful that this day means that what has been sustained in this community, is a sense of community. Look around you and you can see that sense of community, the people that have come from many distances to be here today. (People) that experience this area, that grew up in this area and now have come back 30, 40 years later and see that all of you that are the leaders that live in this community and are here to celebrate and acknowledge our mother and father and their commitment, means everything to us. We want you to know that. On behalf of the family, thank you. Thank you so much for being here and for all of us to celebrate this park like Optimist Park where we grew up now to have this for the kids and the families means everything to us.”Other Purce family members like Debra and Kelley expressed gratitude to their parents and other community members and advocates such as the neighborhood associations for their engagement and vision of a connected community.Kim Purce concluded the family remarks, sharing his thoughts about his late dad and brothers, everyone in the community and all the local families, those living and those who have passed on.”I know everybody is looking down at this, because this whole park could be a beacon, like it was for us, for everybody to come and stay and rest and play,” Kim purce said.. “It can be here even after we’re not here. People can come and rest, people can come and interact and people can come here and know that it’s a place of inclusion, where everybody feels welcome. That was a cornerstone of what my mother and what my father believed in, and a lot of the people that grew up in this neighborhood, as kids always believed and reaped from them.”Kim continued, “I know my dad, my brothers and everybody else who lived up and down the streets are smiling too because they know it’s going to continue.”