Thirty years after the original dedication, the Durango High School Class of 1965 gathered again this weekend to honor two revered local educators with an upgrade to the Buckley Park memorial.
Thirty years ago, Durango High School graduate Art Gomez passed through town and thought the former “old Durango High School park” was in need of a change.
“I drove through around 1985 and saw that the park was just called the ‘old Durango High School park,’ and thought that was so innocuous,” Gomez said. “It doesn’t mean anything.”
As part of the class reunion committee, Gomez suggested his classmates petition the city to authorize a renaming of the park to memorialize Warren and Wendell Buckley.
Originally from the town of Crook in northeastern Colorado, the twin brothers moved to La Plata County in the 1930s and began their careers as educators. Warren was principal of Animas City School before he began teaching geometry at Durango High School. He was appointed DHS principal in 1957.
Wendell also led Animas City School until he became principal of Smiley Junior High School.
Firm and quiet but with great passion for kids and education was how 1965 DHS graduate Don DeLuche described the Buckley brothers on Saturday as they gathered at Main Avenue for an upgrade to the memorial on the park’s northern end.
Thirty years weathered the sandstone, so the former students and other community donators chipped in for a remodel in honor of their 50-year reunion.
“Our junior year picture was taken in this park,” graduate Kelly Black recalls. “We just want this memorial to live on.”
Black and about 25 others shared fond memories of both the Buckleys and their school, which was formerly located just behind the park.
“What the Buckleys instilled was respect,” Gomez said. “They were the best educators. They were old-school and firm, but that’s an important element I think is missing in education today.”
The class of 1965 was the largest to date at that time, with 257 graduating students, DeLuche said, and the Buckleys retired after that year.
Warren and Wendell died since the original dedication in 1985, but DeLuche said the memorial remains to honor two brothers who “truly spent their lives educating kids.”
But did he ever run into trouble with the principal?
“I was a pretty mild kid,” DeLuche laughed. “But I probably wouldn’t tell you if I did.”
jpace@durangoherald.com
