Reporting by Charlie Morris and Jay Sears
Playland launched their inaugural Hometown Heroes program on Memorial Day, honoring 22 veterans who risked, and in some cases sacrificed, their lives at war. Each of the veterans is represented by a banner on the Playland boardwalk featuring their name, photo, branch of service, and service time. Playland describes the purpose of the program as a “living tribute for our community to honor our beloved veterans”. The park asked for submissions from the public.
The single veteran featured from the City of Rye is Kenneth Eugene Dahlgren, who lived in Rye for six decades and served in the US Navy during the Korean War in 1953 on the USS Picking. He was a member of the Rye Fire Department from 1963 – 2021 and was a Rye Fire Chief from 1978 – 1984. Dahlgren was also a Rye Boat Basin board member and organized and instituted the Rye High School Garnet football spaghetti dinner.
“I was delighted when I heard Playland was doing something like this,” his daughter Desiree Powers told MyRye.com. “My dad was was so proud to have served and Veterans Day was his favorite holiday. Growing up it was it was ingrained in my head. You live in the best country in the world. Don’t ever think twice about that.”
Dahlgren lived with his wife Diane on Sanford Street in a house that had a bird’s eye view of the Dragon Coaster. The Dahlgrens raised seven children in that house, all attending Rye High School. Dahlgren passed in 2021. His wife Diane remains in the family home. Three of the Dahlgren children remain in Rye – Dawn Berrocal, Darlene Dahlgren and Douglas Dahlgren.
The family also has a memorial bench in Rye Town Park to honor Dahlgren. “He loved the water and he had a boat … he loved the community.”
You can see the pole featuring Dahlgren right near the middle of the row of banners.
