Sep 5, 2008 3 min read

One of my new treasured possessions is a photo with Jo Dee and a signed copy of the story I got to write about her for our parent paper, the Herald Standard. What a week! In the same week that I meet Jo Dee, I have a one-on-one interview in our office with United States Senator Arlen Specter. Sitting with the man who sat on the Warren Commission that did the inquest into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy was surreal in a way. I was very calm, however.

Later on, I was informed that I probably should have been nervous. I guess I am just not “star-struck” by politicians.

I was definitely nervous when I was talking to Jo Dee, though. I shouldn’t have been since she turned out to be one of the most down-to-earth entertainers that one could ever meet. I suppose it is because I am such a huge fan of music in general and am in awe in a way with those who have the drive and ability to reach the level that she has reached.

So, that takes me back to the part of my last column about a venue named Golden Oaks Park that once graced the western end of Greene County with entertainers like Hawkshaw Hawkins, Minnie Pearl, Cowboy Lloyd, Jimmy Olson and so many more of the original country troubadours.

Golden Oaks was more than just a music venue, though.

It was a place for family reunions and other social gatherings with ball fields and ice cream stands.

I now know this information thanks to our readers like Ken McNeely of Fairborn, Ohio, who went there when he was just a boy; and Arthur Graham of Washington, Pa., who at age 89 still remembers the venue with fondness.

“My mother was a Nelson,” he wrote. “So, when I was 8 or 10 we had a Nelson reunion in that park and a country western group was there.”

Our own Tom Headlee from the Greene County recorder’s office came in to share a photo of the park with his fellow Greene County Messenger Readers.

So many people had that “A-ha!” sort of look when they heard us talking about Golden Oaks Park. In its day it was apparently a place that brought many the fond memories that Mr. Graham referred to in his letter.

How could it not? Good friends, good music, and all in our own Greene County sounds like a recipe for fond memories. I know it was this past week when Jo Dee Messina came to town.

Thanks to our readers for sharing their own fond memories of the past with us!