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New park honours community volunteer

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Lynn Fripps’ surviving family

A woman whose energy and enthusiasm had an enormous effect on her community will be remembered through not only a school, but also a new park that will bear her name.

Township of Langley Council announced May 30 that a park being built in Willoughby will be named Lynn Fripps Park. The park, located on 83 Avenue in northeast Yorkson, will be adjacent to the new Lynn Fripps Elementary School.

“Lynn was an outstanding community volunteer who was dedicated to helping those around her,” said Township of Langley Mayor Rick Green. “She had a huge effect on everything she got involved with. Lynn was always an optimist, always eager to seize the day, and council agreed that naming the park in her honour was a fitting way to commemorate a woman who made a huge impact on our community.”

Township Council invited Lynn’s husband Simon vander Goes and their three sons, Benjamin Nicholas, and Adam, to its Monday evening meeting to hear the news about the park’s name.

Council announced that it would be advancing funding for the park and moving forward with its development this year.

Lynn Fripps Park will open in September 2012 in conjunction with the adjacent elementary school.

Fripps, who succumbed to breast cancer in 2005, was determined to help all of the Township’s communities – and the people who live in them – thrive. She coached swimming, was passionate about environmental protection, promoted breastfeeding education, and was involved in her children’s school and with local sports teams. Fripps 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.

Having battled cancer for several years, she started the Shower of Thanks Campaign which encouraged those with the disease to send thank you cards to cancer researchers.

Lynn Fripps Park will include two soccer fields and a casual use softball diamond. A children’s playground has already been built at the south end of the park 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 has been established between the Township and the Langley School District.