DALLAS City of Winners

The 4th of July, as celebrated in the Park Cities, is a heart-warming spectacle. It is a showcase for successful, sharing and caring American families with few hang-ups and nothing to prow – people smart enough to be truly

grateful for their loved ones, their neighbors, their neighborhood, their city, their country and their God. The citizens of Highland Park and University Park show their love and respect for one another in many ways, but the 4th of July activities top the list. From the start of the morning parade (which begins in one town and winds up in [he other) to the flare and fizzle of the evening’s last skyrocket, the streets, parks, lawns and country club are a constant swirl of red, white and blue costumes and decorations as backdrops for speech milking, lemonade drinking at the Ellen Terry lemonade stand, neighborhood street parties, family get-togethers, young romance, serious business discussions and just plain friendliness.

In our painting, an important event is about to begin – the Great Invitational 4th of July Park Cities Tricycle Race, the Grand Prix of the three-wheeler set. With (he Highland Park Presbyterian Church (actually located in University Park) presiding benvolently in the background, it is white knuckle time again for (he peddlers. One of the highlights of their year, their- turn to join the passing parade, (heir moment in (he spotlight, is at last at hand. As usual, the youngsters are ready – have been for’ days. II is the parents who are holding up the starter’s flag.

It is hard to imagine anything of importance taking place in the Park Cities without the Highland Park Presbyterian Church and its members squarely in the middle of it. And during his lifetime, it was hard to imagine anything of importance taking place in the church without Toddie Lee Wynne, Sr. personally and enthusiastically involved.

This painting therefore could well symbolize much of Mr. Wynne’s life and times. His church and his Lord, his children and his family, his country and his city, his neighbor’s and his friends, all shared large places in his heart. All were blessed by his love, his loyalty and his personal interest.

As this event is reenacted again this war, we hope hell be watching. Certainly his spirit, through the inspiration and the example he left behind, will pervade the scene. This is ever the heritage of a kindly and loving life well lived in God’s service. Death is not the end.