Charlie Ray, Sr. (Dena) was one of the Union Carbide Park groundskeepers from 1950 thru 1965. A lot of the work included moving, watering newly-planted trees and picking up trash off the premises. Mr. Williams cut the larger areas of the park with a tractor.
At the time, Carbide Park was a segregated park. They had a whites only side and a blacks only side, dividing the park into two sections. This was long before it was named after the late County Commissoner Wayne Johnson.
On the white side, they had a clubhouse, tennis court, a skeet-shooting shed, a place to play golf, picnic tables and gym equipment for children. On the side for blacks, they had a pavilion for picnics, playground equipment, a volleyball site and a shack stand. I don’t think either one had a swimming pool.
You had to have a permit to enter the park as a Union Carbide employee or visitor. I remember they always had a Fourth of July celebration at the park where everybody could gather for the events.
