Look Park gets $1 million bequest from Smith professor

By Owen Boss

Staff Writer

NORTHAMPTON - Before her death in 1973, Kathleen Doland and her husband, DJ, cherished their long strolls together in Look Memorial Park. In the years that followed, until his death in September 2009 at the age of 88, friends said, DJ Doland often visited the park and enjoyed walking the grounds.

At a memorial service Saturday held in honor of the longtime Northampton resident, park officials announced that the former Smith College professor had helped ensure the park he loved would remain beautiful for generations by boosting its endowment fund with a $1 million gift.

Doland's gift, officials said, was the largest contribution since Fannie Burr Look's initial gift in 1928, which created the park as a memorial to her husband, Frank Newhall Look.

"DJ was a longtime friend of the park. We are grateful for this very generous bequest, which will impact the lives of Look Park users for generations to come," said Edward Etheredge, chairman of the park's board of trustees.

Officials said they plan to use the interest generated by the legacy every year to support capital improvements at the park. The initial income will be used to resurface the park's water spray facility, which cools off thousands of children and families every summer.

"We are currently in the process of replacing all of the valves that control the water and what we have out there right now is blacktop, which can get pretty slippery when it gets wet," said the park's executive director, Ray Ellerbrook. "So this money will be used to research and put in a new surface that is less slippery and more forgiving."

Although he didn't say whether park officials had any other immediate plans for how to use the money to better the park, Ellerbrook said there is "always something on the drawing board."

"There always seems to be something new we want to do that we can't get to, and this money will certainly make taking care of those kinds of things much easier on us," Ellerbrook said.

Doland retired as chairman of the psychology department at Smith College after 30 years spent teaching. During World War II, Doland was a chief pharmacist's mate in the U.S. Navy. He enjoyed world travel, reading, walking, music, theater and doing research on family history, according to his obituary.

Residents are invited to a public hearing today at 6 p.m. at the Garden House in the park on proposals to create two new athletic fields and to dredge Willow Lake at the park.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com.