Nathaniel Washington, 84, former Philadelphia recreation commissioner

NATE WASHINGTON and his best pal, Bill Jones, were having a glass of wine one day and one of them said, "Well, what do we do next?"

Nate had just gotten out of the Air Force and Bill the Navy, and they were at loose ends.

"I know," one of them exclaimed. "Let's go to college."

That's how fateful, life-changing decisions are sometimes made. So Nate went to Temple and Bill went to Pittsburgh on the GI Bill.

After graduating from Temple in 1957, Nate went to work for the city Recreation Department and advanced through the ranks to become the recreation commissioner in the '80s.

Nathaniel Washington, who also was the first director of recreation and parks in Newark, N.J., a veteran of both the Army and Air Force, and a world traveler who was active in national recreation organizations, died of vascular disease on June 1, his 84th birthday. He lived in East Mount Airy.

Actually, Nate began working for the Recreation Department while still in college in 1954, as a $9.52-a-day summer playground employee. In 1956, he became an assistant recreation leader.

He left the department in 1972 to become director of the Newark Recreation and Parks Department, but returned to Philly in 1980 as deputy recreation commissioner. He also was an adjunct assistant professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Nate was appointed acting commissioner in 1981, and the appointment was made permanent in 1983. He retired in 1985 after a traffic accident in East Falls in which he was charged with drunken driving. Before that, he had an impeccable record with numerous commendations.

As recreation commissioner, one of Nate's responsibilities was the Mummers Parade. A controversy erupted in 1984 when the South Philadelphia String Band seemed to be proposing to put on a show about the Harlem Cotton Club with members in blackface.

Nate had forbidden the use of blackface in the parade, but this turned out to be different.

String Band captain Alex Stewart sat in the commissioner's office and dabbed makeup on his face. It was brown makeup, not black, and Nate ruled that it would be within the rules.

Nate was born in Pittsburgh to James Washington and the former Rosie Wright. He moved to Philadelphia as a teenager after the early death of his mother. He attended Overbrook High School for a time before enlisting in the Army. He served as a truck driver in the occupation of Germany after World War II ended.

After his discharge in 1948, he enlisted in the Air Force and served as a truck driver at a base in California until his second discharge in 1952. He later earned a master's of education degree from Temple.

After his retirement, Nate and his wife, the former Evelyn Graves, whom he married in 1970, traveled the world, taking a total of 34 cruises. They sailed the Caribbean, but also visited China, Russia, Tahiti and other distant ports of call.

Besides his wife, he is survived by three sons, Dudley, Lloyd and Derek, and six grandchildren.

Services: Memorial service 2 p.m. Saturday at Grace Epiphany Episcopal Church, 224 E. Gowen Ave. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Abington YMCA, 1073 Old York Road, Abington, PA 19001.