Pocatello ‘royalty’ cuts ribbon on newly refurbished Purce Park
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POCATELLO – A longtime member of the Pocatello community dedicated a park that has been renamed after her family.
Idaho (Thompson) Purce, who has lived in the Gate City just shy of a century, cut the ribbon in front of the sign for Purce Park on Thursday, with members of her family and community gathered around her. Although the park, formerly known as Bonneville Community Park, has gone by the new name since January, it has since been refurbished, adding new benches, playground equipment and two new bocce ball courts.
“I want to say thank you to everybody who made this possible,” said Kim Purce, Idaho’s fourth child. “This whole park could be a beacon, like it was for us, for everybody to come and stay and rest and play. It can be here, even after we’re not here.”
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Changing the name of the park came about when the Bonneville Neighborhood Association approached the Parks and Recreation Department with the idea. It was to avoid confusion with Bonneville Park, on East Bonneville Street, but the bigger reason was to honor the contributions made by the Purce family to the Pocatello community.
Idaho, born in 1926, has lived in Pocatello all her life. She grew up in the city’s Historic Triangle Neighborhood, a diverse community made up of Black, Hispanic, Asian, Italian, Greek and French people who moved to the area in search of new opportunities. Its borders were Center Street to the south, South 8th Avenue to the east, and the rail yards to the west.
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John Purce first arrived in Pocatello in the early 1940s as a military police officer. Through a mutual friend, John and Idaho were introduced while he was out on patrol and she was walking home with her sister from the Union Pacific Depot, their youngest child, Kellie Purce Braseth, told EastIdahoNews.com in January.
Together, John and Idaho became one of the Gate City’s most influential married couples, fighting for “community, family, education, foster parenting, human rights, and raising HIV/AIDS awareness in minority communities,” according to the resolution requesting the park’s name change. John served as a president of the Pocatello branch of the NAACP, and Idaho co-authored a book on the Historic Triangle Neighborhood. He has since passed away.
As attendees of the ceremony spoke among themselves while waiting for a chance to speak with her, Idaho told EastIdahoNews.com how “shocked” she was by the showing at the park’s dedication, which was at least 100 people.
“I’m shocked, for one thing, because when I have done things for our community and with our community, I wasn’t looking for any pay or any name. I’m just doing it because it needed to be done,” Idaho said. “And that has been my … well … message. Don’t do things for yourself. Do for other people. See a need and try to fulfill it if you can, in a way that’s not going to hurt anybody.”
Les Purce, John and Idaho’s second child, was the first Black elected political official in Idaho, first as a Pocatello City Council member in 1973 and then as mayor three years later. Les told EastIdahoNews.com what it was like to see the crowd gathered for the dedication.
“It’s a pleasure to know that the kind of foundational work you do in a community, that’s good for a community, to support everyone in the community continues almost 40 years beyond the time when you were here,” said Les, who served as president of Evergreen State College in Washington state from 2000 to 2015.
During the ceremony, their third child, Deborah Purce, told the crowd how she felt to be at the dedication.
“I feel so fortunate. I am so fortunate,” Deborah said. “We’re all here because my mother and my father poured all their love and commitment into their family and taught their family to pour that love and commitment into other people.”
When Kellie spoke, she expressed thanks to the city and other organizations for putting so much work into Purce Park.
“I’d like to thank NeighborWorks for their leadership. Neighborhoods are so important and what you do to make sure that neighborhoods are livable and vibrant, and places people want to be their home,” Kellie said. “And I want to thank the Bonneville Neighborhood Association, and particularly Alfreda (Vann) and Janelle (Kaneaster).”
Vann and Kaneaster are two members of the Bonneville Neighborhood Association who worked toward changing the park’s name.
“It’s been a wonderful journey, it really has been,” Vann said.
“(It’s) very rewarding, because we put a lot of work into it and to see the family and the great turnout was… real rewarding,” Kaneaster said.
Mayor Brian Blad spoke to the crowd about what it was like to be in the same place as so many members of the Purce family.
“I will tell you, I feel like I’m in the presence of royalty when it comes to the Purce family,” Blad said.
Later, he addressed the family, saying, “I hope, and we really do hope, that you know how important it is for our community to have your name attached to one of the finest places that we have, and that’s our park system.”
