Mary Natho is a local resident who has called Lake Highlands home since 1969.

Together with her late husband, they raised three children in the community.

In 1946, at the age of 17, Natho became a Red Cross volunteer swim instructor and went on to serve as a faculty member at two Red Cross swimming schools in the 1960's.

She also taught adult swimming in the evenings at the McCree Pool on Plano Road and recently sent us the following letter about her disappointment with the city's decision to remove the pool completely.


Monday, April 11, 2011


Dear Editor:

No whining can bring back the McCree park pool which was dug up recently and replaced by a swell baseball field.

But now the drowning season begins.

Many households cannot pay high private club memberships, much less for lessons.

I was a Red Cross volunteer who taught adult classes years ago at McCree in the coolish evenings.

Once upon a time Red Cross was able to train instructors for free in "Learn to Swim" programs in the mini pools all over the country.

Now Red Cross must use its funds for disaster relief.

As the apartment pools open, older children supposedly watch the smaller ones.

Careless boat owners hit the water, and those souls who wade along the cool banks will drown a few feet from the shore where step-offs lurk.

Now another municipal pool has gone down the drain.

Were the pipes too rusty to repair?

Is baseball going to save a drowning child?

M.L. Natho
Lake Highlands

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Editor's Note: The City of Dallas Park & Recreation Department remains an authorized provider for the American Red Cross.

A variety of safety courses are offered that range in cost from $30 - $200.

For more information about these programs, call 214.670.4100.

As presented in a briefing to the Dallas City Council in August of 2010, the Parks Department reported the cost to fund its 21 city pools at an estimated $2.8 million.