Oxnard-- As the City of Oxnard begins its community outreach for the new aquatic center at College Park, a group of people, including Larry and Shirley Godwin, led a 50-year campaign to make that dream happen.
THE duo encountered many trials and tribulations along the way. Shirley said she and Larry moved into their home in 1966, and the city first purchased the College Park property in 1969.
“We’re probably just a little over a mile from College Park,” she said. “At that time, South Oxnard was pretty rural. There were lots of lemon orchards around our house. There were lemon orchards on one side and strawberry fields on the other side.”
She said new tracts were being built quickly, and many people were moving into the area, and the idea of a park was exciting.
“There weren’t many parks, especially in this part of Oxnard,” Shirley said. “Our first experience with the park was probably not totally legal. At that time, a lot of people, adults included, rode bicycles a lot. I had a neighbor, and she liked to ride her bike around. We both had children, so she said there were lanes where we could ride our…
