Photos by Frank Santangelo
By William Tauro
This past Saturday morning, Mayor Joseph Curtatone, the City of Somerville and its Veteran Services Department, honored Donald Curtin at Hodgkins-Curtin Park with a Veterans Memorial Ceremony re-dedication of a new granite memorial stone.
Friends, relatives and elected officials were in attendance to honor the Somerville native, Donald L. Curtin.
The site is named after William H. Hodgkins, a former state senator, and a Mayor of Somerville in 1896 when an expansive three-story brick building was constructed to replace the small school house that existed. Donald L. Curtin was born September 6, 1944. He gave his life in 1969 in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam and his remains are interred at the Somerville Veterans Cemetery.
Hodgkins-Curtin Park is 1.5 acres, making it one of the largest City-owned public open spaces in Somerville. The playground preserves the basic layout of the popular “Yellow Park” playground for which the park has long been known.
The playground features separate play areas for younger and older children, an extensive sand play area, interactive water table play feature, and boulders set within a river theme. The park includes picnic and cafe tables, new lighting, plantings, and a children’s walking and riding pathway. The newly renovated ball field accommodates Little League baseball, family outings, City festivals and public events.
Remembering my classmate from Matignon High School class of 1962. Don Curtin.
Gave his young life in Nam, but is always a cherished resident in Heaven.🙏
Very happy to see the park named in his honor.👍
I remember Don and his brother when I was a little kid living at the corner of North st & Raymond ave. They were both great guys and a great mentor to us. We looked up to them so much and I remember the day Don’s brother told us his brother was killed in Vietnam. I was only 10 at the time and as I got older it hit me a lot harder because I was to young to process such a tragedy.. Our parents were from Ireland and they prayed the war would end before we got older. We played baseball at that park and Dilboy field as kids. So happy they named the park in his honor. I know he is in Heaven, God bless him!