Elizabethton opens new park funded through donation from Vietnam veteran

Elizabethton officials and local residents gathered to open a new city park made possible through donations from a late city resident. Sandra Renee Greene Park is a new 1.3-acre park with a fenced-in playground along the city’s Mill Race Linear Path and was made possible through donations from late Elizabethton resident Louie Greene. While serving with the U.S. Air Force in the Vietnam War in 1968, Greene received word that the daughter his wife was expecting – to be named Sandra Renee – was stillborn. In February 2026, Greene donated $160,000 to the city to build and name a playground in the baby’s honor. Greene died in April but not before ordering and donating a memorial bench to also be placed at the park in the next few months. Elizabethton Parks and Recreation Director David Nanney said the park will entertain generations of Elizabethton’s children to come and stand as a testament to a father’s love.