Wichita Falls Rolling Through Lucy Park Tall Prairie Grass

I rolled my motorized means of locomotion to Lucy Park this morning to have myself a mighty fine time rolling my non-mechanized wheels for a long commune with somewhat shady nature.

I don't know if that tall green grass you see on either side of my bike's handlebars is prairie tall grass of the sort which covered the Plains part of the United States back when the buffalo roamed and the deer and the antelope played.

What I do know is the grass was taller than me. And my latest driver's license claims I am 6 feet tall. The driver's license also claims I have brown hair.

The trees of Lucy Park and all that tall grass makes for a cooling effect mitigating the current HOT time we are having in North Texas. Day after day in the triple digits. With humidity. A cold front is supposed to arrive next week bringing a 20 degree chill, and maybe some rain.

I have been asked a time or two, by non-Texans, why Lucy Park is so named. One asked me if the park was named after Lucille Ball.

Today I came upon a rock upon which a plaque had been stuck, which explains quite succinctly why Lucy Park is so named.

On the above plaque, attached to that aforementioned rock, we learn "The City of Wichita Falls gratefully acknowledges the generous contribution of Lucy Park by Frances Ann Dickinson in memory of her mother Lucy O'Neill Saunders for whom the park is named."

Previously to seeing this plaque I had learned where Lucy Park got its name. And that Lucy O'Neill Saunders was a J.R. Ewing oil mogul type who made her fortune owning a couple oil producing areas. I remember one was up north in Oklahoma. I assume the other one was in Texas, likely in the Wichita Falls area.

And now it is time to make a Chinese stir-fry for lunch...