Past NRPA staff member passes away.

Suzanne Mathis, executive director of the Indiana Parks and Recreation Association (IPRA) and a longtime, esteemed NRPA employee, passed away last month. Mathis joined the NRPA staff in April 1976 as a secretary in the Department of Education and Professional Services. She served as liaison to the Board of Trustees from January 1990 until January 2002, when she left NRPA to become IPRA's executive director.

Mathis had been actively managing the IPRA annual meeting and organizing the first get-together of the Local Host Committee for the 2007 NRPA Congress in Indianapolis. Former NRPA Executive Director Dean Tice who attended Mathis' memorial service, said that the service was a real tribute to her memory. He knew her for more than 18 years and said, "She was a very dedicated professional and worked to further the mission of NRPA. The word 'no' was not in her vocabulary when it came to helping people."

Expressions of sympathy can be sent to her husband, John, at CO. Box 126, Mexico, IN, 46958. Memorial contributions can be made in her name to the American Diabetes Association.