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Memorials in Sligo Park

Memory is a man's real possession.
In nothing else is he rich.

Alexander Smith

Ida Heller

Plaque on a bench near the sculpture Whispers, corner of Dennis Avenue and Sligo Creek Parkway.

Ida and Sid Heller, who lived on Stirling Road near the Forest Glen Senior Center, strolled often in Sligo, "to people-watch," Sid says. As they wandered past Whispers and saw the benches, they made friends with the Denis Wolf family. Ida died of cancer at 88. She had donated her body to medicine, there was no grave, and Sid needed something to remember her by. He knew the right place for a bench.

"That's not the end of the story," Sid reports. "Some months after Ida's death I decided to move to Boulder, Colorado to be near my daughter and grandchildren. My friends held a farewell party for me, and so that I would not miss the bench in Sligo Creek Park too much, they made arrangements for a similar memorial bench for Ida in Boulder. It would be placed alongside Boulder Creek, near my new home. My daughter and I were to provide an inscription, and this we did. The plaque reads, "Remembered with love in Boulder, Colorado as in Silver Spring, Maryland."

The Heller bench with a tree at each end, and the Wolf benches and garden near Whispers.

Temporary Markers

Walter Penney

An impromptu roadside marker for Walter Penney, in the east woods slightly upstream from Dallas Avenue. Placed within days of January 10, 2002. Penney was a swim team and basketball coach in Takoma Park, and managed the Forest Knolls Gators Swim Team.

Walter Penney, 48, was riding a bicycle in a designated northbound bicycle lane at the side of the parkway as a Wheaton driver sped the other way at nearly 60 mph. The car crossed the median, hit and killed Walter Penney. The driver, 25, received three years of actual jail time, a fine of $1500, and was assigned 240 hours of community service. Reportedly neither drugs nor alcohol were involved; the driver was "in a hurry."

Materials changed from time to time, and the marker has now been removed entirely. At the time the wife of a runner who witnessed the accident, Jean Cavanaugh, set up a rally for safety attended by at least 100 residents. As a result, speed bumps were installed on the Parkway. (They are above Piney Branch, but not below where the road curves too much to be useful.)

Jogger; No Memorial Needed

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