We’d come up here all morning, go home for lunch, and come back. “Some of the school teachers would get hired for the summer by the city to organize games and classes in the old building. In the winter, one of the kids - Herby Wiffin- would flood the baseball field for ice skating and we’d all bring our shovels up.” “My mother was a widow at 40 and so the park was where we went in the summertime. “Not too many families around here had a car then, really,” Jane remembers. (You can still see its foundation, all that remains.) The Olmsted-designed oasis was originally carved out as a break-time destination for mill workers from the old Walter Baker chocolate factory down the street.īy the time Jane and her siblings came of age, it was a haven for the baby-boom generation- and the city programmed games and summer field trips out of an old cement building that once stood next to the present-day tennis courts.
She grew up right around the corner on Brookvale and her summer vacations were centered around Dot Park. Jane- who at the time was raising her two sons with her husband Terry on Patterson Street - worked days and some nights at the Carney back then. It was formed in the “dark days” of the 1980s when the grounds looked more like a scene from “The Warriors” than the bucolic, family friendly park of today. A trio of concerned neighbors- Sheila Gallagher, Susan Lawlor, and the late Lydia Smith were instrumental in organizing the committee that later became the DPA. She is absolutely wonderful at bringing people together and getting the job done,” Pollak said.īoyer was not the group’s founder. “Her name is synonymous with Dorchester Park. Parks and Recreations Commissioner Antonia Pollak called Jane “a tremendous advocate for our parks.” She gave tirelessly of her time and effort.” “She’s a tireless advocate for the park, a good intermediate between the park group and the neighbors who had concerns about the park and with the parks department. “Jane played an instrumental part in bridging the gap between some of us who were always supporters but were never active- and bringing us into a more active role,” O’Mara said. O’Mara credits Boyer, however, with being the catalyst for the park’s positive transformation over the last two decades. Richard O’Mara, the owner of Cedar Grove Gardens, has been a stalwart supporter and has brought his deep understanding of horticulture - along with his fundraising prowess-to the group. Jane has had plenty of help over the years. She hopes there’ll be an election in May or even sooner, perhaps, that will feature a slate of officers willing to bring new energy to the surprisingly busy calendar of events that keep the park buzzing and looking good all-year-round. She has a few thoughts on who might make a good replacement, but she doesn’t want to pressure anyone publicly. She’ll pass along all of her folders and contacts and know-how- all accumulated over the last 22 years as the group’s leader. The Lower Mills native is putting out the call for volunteers to step up and learn the ropes now, while she’s still in the captain’s chair. I don’t think it’s nice to hang in there and always be over their shoulder.”īoyer’s right. “But I need to step back and let the next person do it their way. And I’ll remain a member of the association,” Boyer, 60, said. “I’ll come back to help out with clean-ups and things like that. She plans to announce her impending retirement at next Wednesday’s monthly meeting of the association - an all-volunteer outfit that has made immense improvements to the park under Boyer’s watch. Jane Boyer, who intends to step down as president of the Dorchester Park Association this May, believes that her time as an organizer, advocate, and all-around watchdog for the 26-acre jewel in Lower Mills has run its course. They know when it’s time to give someone else the opportunity to do the job- even if they would still do it better than anyone else could. Truly exceptional leaders know when it’s time to go.
It was taken near the present site of the tennis courts, where Boyer has organized annual Easter Egg hunts for children. Dot Park Leader: Jane Boyer holds a photograph of her late mother, Jane Callahan Mullaney taken in Dorchester Park in the 1940s.
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