#mcphersonsquare

By Patty-Pat Kozlowski, Director of Park Stewardship

Webster’s Dictionary defines LOVE as “an intense feeling of deep affection.” Having attachment, endearment, devotion, adoration, compassion, and unselfishness.

It also states an example of love is “carrying a torch” for a person, an object, a cause.

All of those words described what our friend, Awilda Ocasio, had for McPherson Square. She loved her park. And it was a hard park to love. And she showed that park at Kensington and Indiana more unconditional love than anyone else. She loved that park when it was trashed, graffitied, littered with dime bags and vials, needles. Don’t you DARE call it NEEDLE PARK. It’s McPherson Square -- and she loved it.

On Saturday, April 8, 2017, Awilda Ocasio passed away, leaving five children, several grandchildren, and hundreds of her “little friends” that played at the McPherson Square playground that she helped build. She was the epitome of a park champion and community activist, fighting for her library, her park, her neighborhood. Look up the word “spitfire,” and you will see her picture.

Barbara McCabe, Director of Strategic Engagement with PPR, said it best when she memorialized Awilda at a recent Park Friends Network meeting with the citywide Park Friends groups. “I will always remember Awilda with her blue t-shirt with the ‘HEART OF K&A’ logo, her curly hair pulled back, and a huge smile.”

She was definitely the heart of K&A, and her memory will live on forever at McPherson Square Park.