At about a third of a mile in length, a trail is only one of the features to improve the park.
“The major improvement to the park is the trail, which links all of the elements of the park together - the new playground, restrooms, basketball court and pavilion,” he said.
Roming said the walking trail, made of pervious concrete so water will drain into the ground rather than running off, was named for Robert Worley because of his attentiveness to the park and its need for improvements.
“Robert Worley was important to us,” Roming said. “He brought to our attention a lot of park activity in West Temple with new parks being built and he wanted to make sure that no one forgot about the older parks in town. He thought it would be nice to put some dollars into the Jackson Park area since it was such a pretty park and it needed some accents. We were able to accomplish that with this trail.”
Ken Cicora, director of Temple’s Parks and Leisure Services, remembered Worley as a man who cared.
“Mr. Worley approached us about two years ago with the idea of improving Jackson Park,” Cicora said.
“We actually went and met with him in the park,” he added. “He showed us around the area, outlining improvements he thought were needed.”
After this initial meeting, the department worked with Worley to develop a list of high priority projects for the park.
“Mr. Worley quickly became our biggest advocate,” Cicora said. “He was committed to ensuring that the park improvements were on the agenda whenever those funding decisions were being made at either the local or the federal level.
“It’s safe to say that these projects would not have been possible at this time without the efforts of Bob Worley.”
Cicora said one of the features that Worley was most passionate about was the addition of a handicap-accessible trail to the park.
“He thought that a high quality trail would connect all of the park’s amenities and make them accessible to all visitors,” he said.
