Current Time Check Neighborhood advocate remembers another who has passed away

Thanks to Jon Galvin for being quick to note on Monday the passing of Mamie Waterbury, who Galvin identifies as a longtime advocate for the Time Check Neighborhood.

Waterbury, who had lived at 320 K Ave. NW from 1942 until the June 2008 flood reached the roof of her house, died Friday, Jan. 1, at the age of 91 at the West Ridge Care Center.

Galvin, also a flood victim and advocate for the neighborhood, reports that Waterbury was president of the Time Check Neighborhood Association in the early 1970s when the city created Time Check Park and built a recreation center there.

Galvin credits Waterbury with being a force in opposition to an idea to build apartment buildings in the neighborhood during a time of urban renewal.

Waterbury also knew how to write a good Letter to the Editor. One in October 2009 reminded people what Time Check was and wasn't. She defined Time Check as the area between Penn Avenue and short J Avenue, from Ellis Boulevard to the Cedar River, a definition that she said was the one used by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development back in the early 1970s.

Waterbury also noted in post-flood June 2009 that someone had dug up the plants from her yard. A year earlier, before the flood, she asked dog owners who used Time Check Park to clean up after their dogs.