Dale Risden fell in love with Joaquin Miller Park as a little boy. It wasn’t the trees, or the streams, or the serenity of nature —- those loves would come later. It was Juanita. When Risden was 10, Juanita Miller, the daughter of poet Joaquin Miller, was in her late 70s, as old then as Risden is now. She lived across the street from him, in a house in a park named for her father, and the kid was enamored.
“I found her exceedingly charming,” Risden said.
How could he not? Juanita Miller was a known character in her day, an eccentric who was unafraid to buck social convention. She was also a poet, an artist, an actress, and a staunch supporter of her father’s work, who held annual productions at Woodminster Amphitheater located in the park…