APRS winner retires on top.

David Clifton, CPRP, recently retired as the director of Sharon, Mass., Recreation after 38 years of serving the community. Prior to that, he served for two years as the superintendent of Parks and Recreation in Franklin, N.H.

Among his many accomplishments, he capped his career by being awarded the Meritorious Service Award by APRS at this year's NRPA Congress in Seattle, Wash.

In addition to his years of dedication to Sharon, Clifton has served on many committees, including acting as president for the Massachusetts Recreation and Park Association, chair of the New England Regional Council, APRS Board of Directors, NRPA Board of Trustees, and NPRA's National Forum.

He is also the recipient of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Recognition Award for his efforts to humanely reduce the Canada goose population in public parks. He has also received the Massachusetts Recreation and Park Association's highest award, the Peter C. O'Brien Humanitarian Award.

At this year's Congress, Clifton read a quote that he knows will continue to ring true, even in his retirement:

"Public parks and recreation do not claim to be the panacea for everything, however their importance is generally minimized; they know no season or year and are not only for the young, but also for the older adults; they are the life a child, the guidepost for youth and teenagers, the surest course for adults and the second spring our senior citizens."