Friday, April 10, 1998 | 10:20 a.m.
When Mary Ann Smith sits on a bench by the pond in Freedom Park, she usually has a smile on her face and a sense of pride in her heart.
The kids playing in the park, the ducks and geese swimming in the pond and families enjoying picnics together is exactly what she had hoped for back in 1970 when she wrote a letter to then Mayor Oran Gregson requesting a park.
Although Smith refuses to take full credit, some residents say it was through her relentless efforts that made Freedom Park what it is today.
And on Monday at 11 a.m., the city of Las Vegas will dedicate the pond in Freedom Park to Mary Ann Smith.
"Back then it was up to people like Mary Ann to get the parks going. The parks department didn't have a lot of influence," said Tom Vannozzi, a longtime friend of Mary Ann.
"She actually molded this park," Vanozzi said. "She fought to get the park to its present day status.
The city recently installed a plaque near the pond stating, "Mary Ann Smith -- In recognition and appreciation of her tireless efforts spent in the beautification of Freedom Park."
The now grassy park featuring baseball diamonds, picnic areas, benches and a children's recreational area, was a dry patch of desert when Smith and her husband Clarence, a chief master sergeant in the Air Force, moved to their east Las Vegas home on Chevy Chase Avenue.
"There was no park at the time," Smith said. "Kids were either playing ball in the street or in the Washington ditch, which was just a strip of land between the east and west bound lanes of Washington Avenue. It was very dangerous. At anytime, a car could accidentally drive into the ditch where they were playing. I thought that the children should have a park, a place where they could play ball."
A response to Smith's park request came a month later in a letter from Don Saylor, director of planning coordinator of urban renewal, saying the city had already reserved both the southwest and southeast corner on Mohave and Washington for park purposes, but there was no particular schedule for the type or time of development. He said her request would be put on the City Council agenda for the meeting of Aug. 5, 1970.
Smith and her husband went door to door gathering signatures from neighbors, petitioning for the park and on Aug. 5, Smith, her husband and a large number of neighbors showed up at the meeting with their petition in hand.
"I knew it was important to get people to go to the meetings," she said. "If you have people behind you, things get done."
A sign stating "future city park" was put on the lot.
Smith said the sign stood in the lot for several months before restless neighbors started marking the sign with question marks.
She said there were neighborhood meetings and city hall meetings with the planning department about the park.
"It took months and months," she said. "They said that they didn't have the money and needed to get things OK'd. But we kept after it."
In 1973, Freedom Park was dedicated. Smith said the name was carried over from the park at Nellis. Freedom trees honoring MIAs were planted at the entrance of the park.
Trees also were donated by Smith, some in honor of friends, and her neighbors. The cement plaques under the trees today mark the names of families who donated them to the park.
"It was difficult," Vannozzi said. "She had to fight a lot of battles. Once she realized that the park would be there to stay, she put motion to keep the park kept up.
"She fought to get baseball diamonds, the pond, parking, picnic tables. Every time they were going to take something away, she made sure they didn't."
But Smith says she won't take all the credit.
"There were a lot of people involved and eventually someone would have gotten to it. There was a real need for it."
A 1987 letter from City Councilman Bob Nolan thanking Smith for her efforts for Freedom Park where "Las Vegas families will enjoy its benefits for generations to come," hangs framed on her wall.
Plaques, certificates and thank-you letters, not only for the park, but for her volunteer work with organizations such as the Red Cross, the Catholic Charities, a Straight From the Hart Award and plaques from President Clinton for her support as a leader in the Democratic party also are found on her wall. So is a proclamation from Gov. Bob Miller proclaiming July 4, 1992 -- Smith's 75th birthday -- as a day to honor a Star-Spangled woman.
For a woman who has spent a lifetime of giving, Smith is still asking what she can do to make a difference. "As you get older, you begin to wonder how your life can make a difference," she said.
In recent years, Smith volunteered for Clark County Social Services as a companion for AIDS patients whom she visited in their homes.
Now in her 80s, her kids are grown and have moved on and her husband is dead. The neighbors who helped get the park also have moved on, but Smith, who is still at the house on Chevy Chase Avenue, says she spends five mornings a week walking in the park.
"I love that park," she said. "Every time I go over there, the pride and happiness I feel is overwhelming. I see kids who love to hang around the pond. I see the ducks and geese and it's just wonderful."
Or as she put it in a thank-you letter to Dave Kuiper of the Las Vegas Parks Department:
"As one sits on the grassy slopes at the edge of the pond, you are greeted by ducks and geese as they hurry to the pond, and the birds are singing their hearts out. A peaceful feeling comes over you and for a time, all is well."
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