LONGPORT – Dozens of family, friends and neighbors participated in a ribbon cutting Thursday at the newly created Dorothy’s Park on 22nd Avenue, which honors its namesake Dorothy McGee, a well-respected part of the Longport community.
She was remembered for her contributions to the community, service as longtime secretary of the Longport Board of Education and a member of the Miss America competition Board of Directors and manning the white elephant table each year at Charity League fundraisers. But her gift to the community at the southernmost tip of Absecon Island will be remembered in perpetuity, Mayor Patrick Armstrong said.
Upon her death in 2023, McGee bequeathed to the Borough two valuable beach-block lots where her first house once stood, but with the stipulation that it be turned into a beautiful park with a gazebo and forever be open space in a town where nearly every square inch of land has been built upon.
“There could have been more houses here, but Longport is a family town. Now, there are so many houses and nowhere for children to play,” McGee’s daughter Alicia McGee of Galloway Township said.
She attended the event with the two youngest of her six children – Christopher and Samantha – along with her brother Lawrence McGee.
The childhood home that once stood atop the land was torn down in 2009 after her parents built a new home next door. The vacant lot was maintained as a grass field where all the children of the neighborhood would play ball, she said. The newer house that stood on the corner of 22nd and Atlantic avenues was sold after McGee’s passing, and a new house is currently being built there.
“Our lawn was everyone’s playground,” Alicia McGee said. “We wanted to make sure there was a place where people can throw a ball. I love to see children playing here where I learned how to ride my bike and for families to relax.”
McGee said she is looking forward to going to the beach at 22nd Avenue like she always has, but now she will be able to stop at Dorothy’s Park and reminisce good times growing up in Longport.
The park, which cost approximately $140,000 to build, was funded in part with a recreation grant from the State of New Jersey, but when neighbors heard about McGee’s gift to the borough, they got together and raised the rest of the money needed to build the park.
Jocelyn Agnellini Allison, who lives across the terrace, co-chaired the committee with next door neighbor Ben Kirshner.
“When we found out that she was giving this piece of land to the borough, we wanted to make it the best park we possibly could, so we all got together and donated the money to hire Jamie Lloyd to build it,” Allison said. “Jaim does all our properties and he does a fabulous job.”
Jaim Lloyd of JW Landscaping, Inc. has been landscaping the McMansions that dot the island practically forever.
“My dad gave him his first job when he was only 15 years old and too young to drive,” Allison said. “We knew we wanted him to do it.”
Lloyd has committed to maintaining the park for the next five years as a gift to the community where he earns his living, she said.
On Thursday, the park was in full bloom. The gazebo, built by members of the Pennsylvania Amish community, was the site of the ribbon cutting.
The park reflects the “love, generosity and the shared spirit of the community,” Allison said.
She thanked former Mayor Nick Russo, Armstrong, builder Jim Leeds and borough staff for their work seeing the project to completion.
Lloyd said there was no rhyme or reason for designing the plantings, only a keen eye for beauty.
“It was designed on the fly,” he said. “We brought six truckloads of plants, shrubs and trees, and placed them as we went along.”
He also reset the yellow brick pavers in the sidewalk, many of which were broken, before adding a strip of garden along a low fence that defines the park.
“We went from a 10-foot sidewalk to just 5 feet, and we reinstalled the iconic yellow bricks,” he said.
The park was lighted, sodded and has a sprinkler system that will keep the flowers fresh in the hot summer sun.
McGee perused the plantings to see if there were any lilac bushes.
“Lilacs were Mom’s favorite,” she said.
Former longtime resident Ellen Cohen recalled her friendship with McGee, outlining her many contributions to the borough.
“She was organized, not like me,” Cohen said. “And, she had an amazing sense of humor. She always had an interesting comment to share about things. She had her special way of doing things.”
Former Historical Society President Lee Carlock, who always worked the polls on election day, said McGee never missed voting in an election.
Commissioner Jim Ulmer noted that two more parks are slated to open in Longport in the coming months and year.
On July 2, he announced that the borough had received another generous donation from the Kessler Family Trust to move forward with creating a park at Longport Point at the end of Atlantic Avenue. Another local group recently received the commissioners’ approval to move forward with a beachfront park along Beach Terrace, between 15th and 16th avenues. Lloyd will be instrumental in designing that park as well.
“Today is a testament to a team that believed in Dottie’s dream to build a park that our children’s children all will enjoy for generations to come,” Armstrong said. “This team is finished here, but we are going to take this energy and continue with two more parks, Beach Terrace Park and Point Park. We need your support, and we thank you for that.”
Enjoy some more photos of the park...
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