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43 °F Forecast | Road Cams Sunday, November 14, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend November 14, 2004 Nancy Hanson reads to a group of Central Point Elementary children for an after-school program. The city owes its parks and recreation class offerings to Hanson�s four years of hard work for the city. She is retiring to spend time with her grandchildren. Mail Tribune / Roy Musitelli Finally, she’s the retiring type ‘Grandma’ takes time to say farewell to the Central Point program she built from scratch By BUFFY POLLOCK for the Mail Tribune CENTRAL POINT — Parks and recreation coordinators don’t retire. They just go some place else to play. After four years of building a full-service recreation program from scratch, Nancy Hanson is stepping down to take on her latest role in keeping children happy, busy and entertained. It’s a role she lovingly refers to as "grandma." Hanson officially retired this month, almost four years to the day after she began, marking her third and final stint in building a recreation program from the ground up. The 63-year-old came to the city in November 2000 to help piece together some basic classes and plan a community center. Advertisement "I really didn’t have a supervisor when I started," she remembered. "They basically gave me the reins and let me do anything I wanted to do." What she did continues to amaze those who remember things before she arrived. Hanson had the city’s first recreation program pieced together in just a matter of weeks, in time to advertise January classes. In its first year, basic programs such as finance, fitness and art tallied some 18,000 hours. The second year they more than doubled to 41,000. By the third year, classes had expanded to include everything from scrapbooking, guitar and dance to Internet for seniors and a summer camp program to rival those of most large cities. In 2003, 82,000 hours were registered, "and we may double it again," Hanson said of the current year. "We don’t have the final counts just yet for this year, but it will at least be close." While Hanson’s achievements are a milestone for the small city, she has been no stranger to finding ways to provide recreation for children. Before Central Point, the lifelong Oregonian, raised in the tiny eastern Oregon town of Nyssa, worked to develop recreation programs in the cities of Ontario and Klamath Falls and helped inspire curriculum at the YMCA in Klamath Falls. Having raised four children with her husband Ed, she also spent several years as a volunteer for the state 4H Extension Office and served as a 4H leader for many years. She leaves the city big shoes to fill, but with a firm foundation. Designs for a community center are ready to go, a parks master plan has been completed and a skateboard park five years in the making is finally funded and ready to break ground. Two parks will soon be developed with water spray features and other amenities and community events have become commonplace, including an annual citywide cleanup, rodeo events to complement the fairground’s Pro Rodeo and a community Christmas celebration. Her proudest accomplishment, however, was a partnership forged with the local school district when funding cuts forced the city’s only after-school program, run by the Boys and Girls club, to pull out of town. Permit technician Rochelle Lake — a local resident who said she enjoyed yoga and photography classes thanks to Hanson’s efforts — said the after-school program was perhaps one of the more needed programs for residents. Currently, just over 150 students are provided with after-school child-care, snack, enrichment opportunities, homework help and recreation. "I watched every day as these single parents came in desperately needing after-school care," Lake said. "No matter how full they got, Nancy would always find a way to make room and you could just see the stress lifted off these parents." Hanson, as she has been known to do, quickly shifted the credit from herself, putting the success of her programs to the city’s commitment to residents and fulfilling needs evident long before she came along. Community development director Tom Humphrey, who took part in hiring Hanson four years ago, said the woman who "never seemed to slow down" would leave a void with her retirement. Humphrey said Hanson had filled a lot of gaps, including corroborating with the Parks Commission, partnering with local schools and spearheading a number of events that turn a city into a hometown. "Once Nancy arrived, it was like a breath of fresh air," Humphrey said. "She’s certainly done a lot to homogenize the city� she’s been a real asset and we’re all indebted to her for that." Buffy Pollock is a freelance writer living in Medford.E-mail her at [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities