Another one has bitten the dust.

Just as I was coming to grips with the building where my childhood Sunday School classes were housed being torn down, this week on Facebook, a friend tagged me in another eradication, the Marion Park pool.

I was disappointed when I saw where the body of water that kept me cool for nearly two decades was being ripped away.

Per the Facebook post, the pool had not been used in a couple of years, and the city decided to remove it.

Have video games and extracurricular activities increased to the point that young people don’t hang out at swimming pools anymore?

Or was there no one to manage the facility?

Back in its glory days, the Marion Park Pool had been “the place” to hang out for the neighborhood kids, and it was our parents (mostly moms) who would take turns keeping a look over any shenanigans.

I know that today most women work outside the home, but back in the 70s, those moms who held down full time jobs would take their turns on the weekends.

I suppose life was just simpler back then, and there were not so many things vying for our time.

Nevertheless, I for one am glad I had the opportunity to grow up with the Marion Park Pool.

For three months out of the year (the time frame for Summer vacation has also changed) and nearly every day of the week, I was at the pool.

Hours of operation were from 10 a.m. to noon, from 2 to 5 p.m. and from 6 to 8 p.m. and on most days, I was there for the whole afternoon three-hour segment.

Getting to the pool was easy. Located at the end of Columbia Avenue, all I had to do was walk a few yards down the hill.

And after passing the swim test that included swimming the length of the pool, I could even go without the watchful eye of a parent.

Initially, going to the pool would revolve around just swimming and playing with my friends, but when I reached the big 1-3, it became all about the boys!

While there were a few cuties in the neighborhood, there was absolutely one man that stole my heart — Kelvin Matthews — the lifeguard.

And it would probably be safe to say that besides me, every other girl who hung out at the Marion Park pool had a crush on him.

He was such a dreamboat with his dark wavy hair and bronze tan.

Thinking back on how naïve I was then and how hard I worked to get his attention still makes me blush.

I realized years later that a high school boy would never have been interested in a prepubescent teen with an overbite and curly hair.

But at the time, I kept on fantasizing.

I don’t know what the plans are for the property now that the pool has been completely removed. My hope would be that it is replaced with something this new generation will enjoy as much as all us Marion Park kids did at our pool.

So once again, here I am relegated to relying solely on those sweet childhood memories now that the neighborhood pool is no more.

While I remain a little melancholy with yet another change, I was elated to see on Facebook how many of the neighborhood gang shared my sentiments. It just proved that the Marion Park pool had been a special place.   

I just wonder whatever happened to that cute little lifeguard?

Terri Cowart Frazier is a staff writer at The Vicksburg Post. Readers are invited to submit their opinions for publication.