Langford Park

This popular park in Jensen Beach was named in honor of Frances Langford (1913-2005). Frances Langford was a popular singer, radio performer, and actress in the 1930's through the 1950's. She was also a boater and fisherwoman. Langford's first singing performance was staged in Lakeland. The classically-trained opera singer had a tonsillectomy in her teens, and she retrained her vocal style to the big band type of music that was popular at the time. Langford was discovered by Rudy Vallee while performing on a Tampa radio station. She worked on the radio with Vallee, Dick Powell, and Bob Hope. Her first film was Every Night at Eight (1935) which featured her singing I'm in the Mood for Love. Her other films included Yankee Doodle Dandy and The Glenn Miller Story. During WWII Frances Langford worked with the USO and traveled through North Africa and the South Pacific to visit injured GI's. She became known as the GI Nightingale. Her weekly newspaper column, "Purple Heart Diary," told of those visits and urged public support for injured soldiers. Of her time visiting the troops Langford said ""The greatest thing in my life was entertaining the troops." Langford's war-related papers can be found at the Institute on World War II at Florida State University. In 1955 she moved to Jensen Beach with her second husband Ralph Evinrude to live out her dream, Frances Langford's Outrigger Resort, where she had cottages, a restaurant, and a marina. In 1948, Frances donated 20 acres of her estate for the creation of this park. Lanford Park is located just south of the historic Stuart Welcome Arch. The park is home to the Vince Bocchino Community Center that has a kitchen and meeting space. It can be rented for private events like shower and weddings, and hosts programs that include summer camp and the Jensen After School Experience. There is also the Log Cabin Senior Center that hosts many senior programs and activities like light exercise and art classes. Other park amenities include restrooms, a playground currently closed for remodeling, four baseball diamonds, a concession stand, two basketball courts, four tennis courts, four racquetball courts, two sand volleyball courts, eleven picnic pavilions, and the newest addition, four pickleball courts. Connected to the park by a sidewalk path through the ball fields is the Pat Mark Rio-Jensen Skate Park. I enjoyed walking the park for exercise. This well maintained recreational facility brings the community of Jensen Beach together. It is the ideal place for play, exercise, sports, picnics, or just hanging outside enjoying the beautiful weather.