SEQUIM — Born on a farm in De Soto, Kan., Ruth McCord came to love the farm life, recalled her son Scott.
Years later, long after the time her family was forced to sell that property to make way for a munitions factory during World War II, she was able to recapture a bit of her childhood.
“In a way, she was purchasing that farm,” said Scott McCord, who spoke at a dedication on the site of the future Sequim city park named for his late mother.
“Mom loved Sequim. She loved the cows, the red barns, the mountain view. She held tight to this property. I wish I had a dollar for every time someone came up and asked … if she was interesting in selling it.
“She was not tempted by the money. She always hoped this would not be divided up.”
Instead, the 16.61-acre piece of land at 764 W. Hendrickson Road will become Sequim’s first west side park.
Sequim city council members unanimously approved the $2.45 million purchase of the property on May 13 from the family of Ruth C. McCord in honor of her wish that it be used as a park for children and seniors.
“She said, ‘I want to bless the lives the children, but I also love the elderly, and I want to bless the lives of the elderly,’” Scott McCord recalled.
“Sequim was mom’s happy place,” daughter Julie McCord Perkins said at the dedication. “This park accomplishes all of her wishes.”
Scott, Julie and Sterling McCord each were on hand to offer their thoughts on the dedication of the land to the city on Oct. 25.
To purchase the park, city staff reported they used monies from the Rainy Day Fund, Real Estate Excise Taxes, Park Impact Fees, General Fund Reserve and state grant funding.
City Parks and Events Manager Hannah Merrill said there is much to do before the park can open, including community engagement, site planning, grant writing, fundraising, construction and eventually an official opening.
Until then, Merrill said a local rancher who has leased the land for the past 30 years will oversee the property.
Sterling McCord, a 1989 Sequim High School graduate who spent his high school years on the property, said Ruth came to love Sequim after the town’s residents embraced her, a single mother raising two boys.
“I feel like that sense of community still exists here,” he said.
Turning the property into a public park gave the family an opportunity to put all of the things she taught her children into practice, Scott McCord said.
“This will always be a symbol of her love of Sequim,” he said.
“She had a vision of something greater than herself,” deputy mayor Rachel Anderson said. “She understood that the greatest legacies are the ones that give back.”
The city of Sequim got a heads-up from state Sen. Kevin Van De Wege, D-Lake Sutherland, that some state grant funds could be used for this project, city manager Matt Huish said.
“I’m grateful to be in a position to be in Olympia to allow something like this to happen,” said state Rep. Steve Tharinger, a longtime colleague of Van De Wege’s, at the park dedication.
“In a town like Sequim, any piece of property that’s not developed will become more and more important.”
A recent city survey of 506 residents showed that 89 percent support the purchase of property for the creation of additional parks and/or open spaces. Sequim has eight city-owned parks encompassing a combined 117 acres, not including the new park space.
For questions about the park, contact Merrill at hmerrill@sequimwa.gov.
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Michael Dashiell is the editor of the Sequim Gazette of the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which also is composed of other Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News and Forks Forum. Reach him by email at michael.dashiell@sequimgazette.com.
Ruth McCord stands on the property her estate gave to the city of Sequim. (Scott McCord)
