Growing up in Waukegan, Tim Flynn went away to college and moved to Denver where he became an artist and teacher, but returned home 10 years ago where he renewed old friendships and developed a new appreciation of the upbringing his parents gave him.
As his replanted roots took hold once again, Flynn wanted to help create a place to double as a memorial to his parents’ generation, and a potential gathering spot for his peers and their progeny.
Waukegan’s Bowen Park is a place where Flynn said he and his friends found youthful adventures, cemented their relationships and some now take their grandchildren to play. He built a hexagonal patio there, featuring a Waukegan Park District table. A sculpture is coming.
Flynn cut a ribbon formally dedicating the patio and a memorial plaque to more than a dozen individuals once active in the community, as more than 30 people watched Saturday near the baseball field at Bowen Park. He hopes to see it grow.
“This is a place where people can create their own memories, too,” he said.
Working on a sculpture to be a permanent part of the newly dedicated space, Flynn hopes the creation will be the first of many. Like investment and industry can help a community grow, so too can art, he said.
“There should be art in parks,” Flynn said. “I look forward to more sculptures in the parks and in the city. The arts come before development quite often. I think it could help things.”
Placed on the table were several of Flynn’s sculpture creations — three small ones and a large one. He said he is still thinking about what the piece will be, but he knows one belongs in the location.
“This is for my parents, all our parents,” he said. “None of those memories would have happened without our parents choosing Waukegan as our home. It is in honor of them.”
Along with the table and a grill, two trees are planted and already blossoming nearby. They were donated to the Park District by Flynn and Jim Byrne. They have their own dedication plaques.
Byrne’s tree was donated in memory of William and Patricia Byrne, and Leo and Lois Janks. Flynn donated the tree in memory of his parents, Jack and Dorisann Flynn.
Born in Chicago, Flynn said he moved to Waukegan as a young boy in 1969, when his parents brought the family to a new city. Before Waukegan, much of his youth was spent playing on asphalt.
“I couldn’t believe all this open area,” he said. “We played there and explored the ravine, played baseball and would fly down the toboggan slide. As teenagers, we loved to gather there. Now, we love to walk through the park and watch it change with the seasons.”
Reminiscing about their own memories was part of the order of the day once the area was formally dedicated.
Mary May, who is one of 15 children of Charles and Margaret May, said Bowen Park is an appropriate place for the memorial.
“We grew up here in Bowen Park. We played here all the time. We’d cross over that bridge and walk to St. Annie’s,” she said, referring to the pedestrian bridge spanning Sheridan Road and St. Anastasia Catholic Church a few blocks to the west.
Along with memories of a playful childhood, Flynn, May, Byrne and Claudia Freeman said they remember when not far from Bowen Park was a lakefront abuzz with factories employing 20,000 people.
“Those jobs helped make Waukegan Waukegan,” Freeman said.
“My father worked there for 40 years at Johnson Motors,” Byrne added.
