Carl Hughes wrote the slogan for Kennywood's Kiddieland -- the one that reads "The most beautiful music in the world is the sound of children laughing."
In the five-plus decades that he worked at Kennywood -- rising from part-time publicity assistant to president and chairman of the board -- Mr. Hughes worked tirelessly to make his words come true.
"He was the man who truly created Kennywood," said Harry Henninger, who retired as Kennywood's chief executive officer when the park was sold in 2008. "He made it his mission to make it a much greater place, and he achieved it."
If you're not a Pittsburgh native, it's kind of difficult to get across the idea of how significant Kennywood was to all of yinzers growing up. To this day, there are certain sights, sounds, and smells - hot bearing grease, in particular - that immediately transports me from wherever I am, back to hot summer days and cool summer nights filled with roller coasters, friends, family and fun.
"He really took Kennywood from just a little -- kind of dirty -- park into one that was envied by park owners around the world," Ms. Rosemeyer said. "That was his goal, to make it the finest traditional amusement park anywhere."It boggles my mind to think that so many wonderful memories were the result of one man's passion.
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