Tizz Crowley, from left, Corinne Saindon and Kathy Bourgault stand next to the sign for the newly renamed Edna Hadakin Crowley Mothers Park on Sunday in Auburn. The three sisters grew up in the neighborhood and dedicated the park to all mothers. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal
AUBURN— The neighborhood surrounding the corner of Drummond and High streets celebrated a renaming and dedication of its park Sunday, Mother’s Day, in honor of Edna Hadakin Crowley.
The park, now called Edna Hadakin Crowley Mothers Park, has been a focal point for many neighborhood families for decades who have known it only as Drummond Street Park.
The new name honors one of many mothers, past and present, who embodied the spirit and character of a community that raises its own with work ethic and nurture, Tizz Crowley, Edna’s daughter, said. These mothers are those of both blood and of heart and for the men who occasionally step into those roles or play both, she said.
Introduced by Councilman Leroy Walker, Tizz Crowley, a former councilwoman, and Chip Audette, her son, led the ceremony and unveiling of the park’s new sign. Crowley said the neighborhood and the mothers’ roles in raising the children as a community had as much a profound effect on her as her mother did.
“You’d have to know my mother, but if you talk to anyone who did know her, they’d have a story to tell. Like most mothers in Auburn, we work hard, take care of our kids, take care of others’ kids, they have hearts of gold and they’re always there,” said Crowley.
Several Crowley family members were at the ceremony including Tizz Crowley’s sisters, Kathy Bourgault and Corinne Saindon. Grandchildren included Audette and Wayne and Michael St. Germaine, and family members “by heart” included Sonya Tyler and Nan McKenney.
Crowley said she plans on banding some of the neighborhood mothers together to create a “Friends of the Park” group to help make some changes and keep things fresh. She said it is something her mother would do.
“We come from great models of women,” Crowley said. “People who know any of us think we’re fairly high energy, but we’re slow compared to Edna Crowley. She was somebody to be reckoned with.”
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