Olander and Margaret Banks neighborhood park (Alexandria, Dale City: home, middle school, authority)

[tgbwc]

Does anyone know about the Olander and Margaret Banks Park that is on Old Telegraph Road in Alexandria? I drive by it occasionally and it seems to be more and more neglected each year. I can’t find much online other than a bit of history and FFX County Park Authority plans from around 2011 or so.

[futbol]

I just found out about this park when searching for a friend and next-door-neighbor I had in middle school.

Everyone called him 'Smiley'. Apparently, he was smiling when he was born. Real name was Olander, which I suppose is after his father.

I remember in Dale City (late '70's) his mom on a late afternoon, in a booming and melodic voice, shouting on the back porch 'Olander... Olander... Ohhhhlander', for him to come home for dinner. My bothers and I asked who she was calling for. This is how we found out Smiley's real name.

His family was from Washington DC. His father was very successful in his auto parts recycling business.

I just remember exploring the woods with Smiley and other neighborhood friends, and playing street football. Ah, the '70's.

This park must have been named after his father. I remember him as quiet, and maybe always working. They had a 'junk' yard with a pile of cars and the typical mean junk yard dog, which the local paper wrote about. Smiley was proud of that dog.