The Barbara Boggs Sigmund Park, located on the corner of Hamilton Avenue and Chestnut Street and across the street from the former Westminster Choir College campus, had lately become overgrown with weeds and invasive plants.
So Sharon Ainsworth, who chairs Princeton’s Shade Tree Commission and who is a Mercer County Master Gardener, decided it was time for a change – and a cleanup.
Volunteers and municipal employees alike worked together to weed out the park and install new trees and shrubs, according to a press release.
“As a member of the Master Gardeners of Mercer County, I felt that the renovation of the (municipal) park would offer a unique opportunity to showcase not only the talent of the Master Gardeners, but also the knowledge resource of the organization,” Ainsworth said in the press release.
Ainsworth also thanked Mercer County Horticulturist Margaret Pickoff and Taylor Sapudar, Princeton’s municipal town arborist, who forged a partnership with the volunteers and town staff to work together on the project.
To celebrate the project’s completion, a group of elected officials, master gardeners, residents and Shade Tree Commission members gathered May 29 – in the rain – to rededicate the Barbara Boggs Sigmund Park.
The park was named for Sigmund, who was the first woman mayor of the former Princeton Borough. The town was dissolved when it merged with the former Princeton Township to create the Municipality of Princeton in 2013. Sigmund served as the Princeton Borough mayor from 1984 until her death in 1990.
The rededication ceremony occurred 30 years to the day that the park was dedicated to Sigmund, the press release said. Sigmund died of cancer – a malignant melanoma that was discovered behind her left eye – in 1990. She was 51 years old.
The cancerous tumor caused her to lose her left eye in 1982, but she made up for the loss of her eye by wearing colorful eye patches that complemented her outfits.
The cancer returned several years later.
In tribute to Sigmund, the background color on the small sign that announces “Barbara Boggs Sigmund Park” is purple, Sigmund’s favorite color.
There are swings, sliding boards, a sand box and a picnic table in the park.
Sigmund was born in New Orleans in 1939. Her father was U.S. Rep. Hale Boggs of Louisiana, who died in a plane crash in Alaska in 1972. Her mother, Corinne Lindy Claiborne Boggs, succeeded him in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Sigmund grew up in a politically active family, so it was not surprising when she decided to run for elected office in Princeton, where she had moved with her husband, Princeton University political science professor Paul Sigmund.
Sigmund was elected to the Princeton Borough Council in 1972, serving one term. She was elected to the Mercer County Board of Chosen Freeholders- known today as the Mercer County Commission – in 1975. She was the freeholder board president in 1979 and 1980.
During her tenure on the freeholder board, Sigmund was instrumental in creating Womanspace, the nonprofit group that helps victims of domestic violence, both women and men. It is based in Lawrence Township.
Womanspace has its roots in the Mercer County Commission on the Status of Women. During the initial public meetings, the issue of domestic violence quickly came to the forefront.
As a result of those meetings, a proposal was developed to provide services to women in crisis. The effort was spearheaded by Sigmund, resulting the creation of Womanspace.
Sigmund, who is considered to be the founder of Womanspace, signed the original certification of incorporation for the nonprofit group in 1977, along with four other co-signers.
