A woman whose energy and enthusiasm had an enormous impact on her community will be remembered not only in a school named after her, but now a neighbouring park.
Langley Township council announced on May 30 that a park being built on 83 Avenue in Willoughby will be named Lynn Fripps Park, adjacent to the Lynn Fripps Elementary School currently under construction.
“Lynn was an outstanding community volunteer who was dedicated to helping those around her,” Mayor Rick Green said.
Fripps’ husband, Simon vander Goes, and their sons Benjamin, Nicholas and Adam, were present for the announcement.
“She had a huge effect on everything she got involved with,” Green said, adding that “Lynn was always an optimist, always eager to seize the day.”
He said that naming the park in Fripps’ honour was a fitting way to commemorate a woman who made a huge impact on the community.
Council will advance funding for the park and moving forward with its development this year. Lynn Fripps Park will open in September 2012, when the elementary school is scheduled to open.
Lynn Fripps Park will include two soccer fields, and softball diamond for casual use. A children’s playground has already been built at the south end of the site, and the park will share hard court surfaces for sports such as basketball with Lynn Fripps Elementary. Exterior access washrooms and sufficient parking that can be used by park visitors will also be constructed at the school, as part of a joint use partnership that has been established between the Township and the Langley School District.
Before her death from breast cancer in 2005, Fripps had coached swimming, was passionate about environmental protection, promoted breastfeeding education, and was involved in her children’s school and with local sports teams.
She was a member of the Aldergrove Community Enhancement Society, the Aldergrove Revitalization Committee, the Bertrand Creek Enhancement Society, and was instrumental in forming Aldergrove Neighbourhood Services.