Sign will honor Bradleys for gift to children’s center

Alexis Barker
NLJ Reporter
 
Lola and Jack Bradley will be recognized for their donation to the children of Weston County with a sign to be erected at Centennial Park. The sign, which is a gift from Lola’s family for her 97th birthday, will recognize the couple for their gift. 
On Sept. 4, the Bradleys’ daughter, Lolly Martin, asked the Newcastle City Council for permission  to place a 6-foot-tall sign honoring her parents in the park. She said that her parents had once gifted the land to the children’s center before the property was traded to the city and became a park. 
“It must have been in the ’80s; the Weston County Children’s Center was in the basement of the Methodist Church,” Martin recalled. 
Martin explained that the children’s center provided services to the county that could not be received elsewhere and as the center’s preschool and child care services outgrew the basement, it began working on grants to fund construction of a building. 
“There was a need for what they provided in the community, but they had outgrown the church,” Martin said. “So they started working on grants for a new location.” 
Martin said that she was on the children’s center board at the time and her parents thought the center met a community need. 
“So they decided to give some land to the children’s center so they had a place to put up a building and use their grants and expand,” Martin said. “It is in the deed from my parents that the land was to be for the benefit of the children of Weston County.” 
Martin noted that the city of Newcastle was not fond of the location of the Bradleys’ gift, so it traded property at 104 Stampede St., which is where the center has been ever since. 
“The city traded land with the children’s center, and now we have a wonderful children’s center that is the head of Region 3 and represents Weston and Crook counties,” Martin said. “They offer so much to the community – like physical therapy, occupational therapy, hearing and speech clinics, day care and preschool.” 
Larry Price, the city engineer in the 1980s, originally suggested that the park be named after the Bradleys, but Lola favored honoring Wyoming. 
“In 1988 when the children’s center was being built, it was closing in on the 100-year anniversary of the state and my mother wanted to recognize the state by calling it Centennial Park,” Martin said. 
She noted that the park has since been called Larry Price Park and the Red White and Blue Park, but that the park will always officially be named Centennial Park, thanks to her mother. 
The sign that will be erected in honor of her parents, Jack who is deceased, and Lola’s 97th birthday will state, “Land Donated by Jack and Lola Bradley, Honoring Wyoming’s Centennial 1890 to 1990.” The sign has been a desire of the family’s for several years, according to Martin, and will make the best birthday present for her mother.