Editor’s note: This is part of The Know’s series, Staff Favorites. Each week, we offer our opinions on the best that Colorado has to offer for dining, shopping, entertainment, outdoor activities and more. (We’ll also let you in on some hidden gems).
When writer’s block hangs over my head like a thunderous cloud, I inevitably find myself walking toward Sloan’s Lake Park, almost as if I’m in a sleepwalking trance.
The cure for the blank train of thought (and my favorite spot in the sprawling 177-acre park) lies at the corner of Meade Street and West 19th Avenue: Melrose Inspirational Garden.
When Moose, my 2-year-old black lab, isn’t dragging me across the lawn to sniff another pup, I like to take a seat on one of the many benches under the aluminum pergola and ask Frances Melrose for some inspiration.
Frances Melrose, who retired in 2001 after working at the Rocky Mountain News for 57 years as a reporter and columnist, died Nov. 26 at age 90. She was inducted into the Denver Press Club Hall of Fame in 1998.
Melrose was a reporter, columnist and travel editor at The Rocky Mountain News for 57 years, interviewing Hollywood royalty like Elizabeth Taylor and Cary Grant during the 1950s. She was inducted into the Denver Press Club Hall of Fame in 1998 and died in 2011 at the age of 90.
Melrose Inspirational Garden, built in 2013, was a collaboration between Denver’s Department of Parks and Recreation and the Frances A. Melrose Foundation, which offers scholarships at Melrose’s alma mater, the University of Denver.
The perennial garden blooms every spring and creates a walking path around the aluminum pergola, which has eyelet cutouts on the roof that create flower-shaped shadows on the ground when the sun is beaming down on it.
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Quotes from Melrose are inscribed on the memorial’s slate floor, among them: “I treated every interview subject as if this were the most important life event in that person’s life.” Plus, there are a few others from her admirers, including University of Colorado Denver professor Tom Noel, who wrote, “Frances, a white-gloved flower, a lady, a model journalist blossomed in print, adorning The Rocky Mountain News. She made and captured Colorado history.”
Quotes are inscribed in the Melrose Inspirational Garden ground, including one from University of Colorado Denver history professor Tom “Dr. Colorado” Noel. (Photo by Lily O’Neill — The Denver Post)
When I finish my silent reflections on one of the memorial’s benches, I can’t help but wonder what Melrose would think about all the stories that flourish around her now.
My favorite quote from Melrose is the one that reminds me why I’m a local journalist, and nearly always frees me from the chains of my writer’s block: “We all know that the scenery in this part of the world is magnificent. And there are men and women to match the mountains. No wonder there are so many tales to tell in a Rocky Mountain setting.”