Syracuse, NY -- With poems, stories and reminiscences, adults dedicated the new Ted Grace Reading Grove at Syracuse’s Corcoran High School was dedicated. Children did the same by playing among the new bricks and ground cover. Work on the grove began more than three years ago when Corcoran supporters began cutting back brush that had overgrown Furnace Brook, which...
Children play shortly after adults unveiled a sign at the dedication of the Ted Grace Reading Grove at Corcoran High School in Syracuse.Syracuse, NY -- With poems, stories and reminiscences, adults dedicated the new Ted Grace Reading Grove at Syracuse’s Corcoran High School was dedicated.
Children did the same by playing among the new bricks and ground cover.
Work on the grove began more than three years ago when Corcoran supporters began cutting back brush that had overgrown Furnace Brook, which winds through the middle of the property. In past summers a flat spot was converted by art students and others into a colorful Peace Park, and on Friday evening, walls that once sported graffiti were covered with a multicolored mosaic highlighting the life and stories of Corcoran alumnus Ted Grace, who died in 2004.
Grace was remembered by family and friends for his love of literacy and storytelling. His aunt, Alice Dismuke, recalled how he attended one of his cousin’s baseball games and failed to cheer because he had his nose in a book. She scolded him, so he cheered, but for the wrong team. “Go back to reading your book,” she told him.
Paul Grace (no relation to Ted), who graduated from Corcoran in 1973, showed photos of what the area looked like before the work. And what it looked like in when it was opened in the middle 1960s. He said the reading grove is just one part of the rejuvenation of the Corcoran campus.
He said the school had two cougar statues installed — the cougar is the school mascot —and that the statues have been cared for. “That told us people are really taking pride in the school again,” he said.
More, he said, the school was actively involved in helping improve the neighborhood. The girls lacrosse team spent a recent rainy Saturday morning cleaning part of Elmwood Park, a city park that adjoins the high school.
Contact Charles McChesney at cmcchesney@syracuse.com.