— — The City of Tonawanda’s longest-tenured public employee, Linda Foels called it a career last month after more than three decades. But the 34-year recreation director said she’s now busier than ever.

“What people say is true,” Foels, who started her career as a part time playground attendant in 1970, said. “I’m even busier in retirement.”

Foels, who has held every job title in the department at one time or another, is still president of Gateway Harbor Corp. and works with the city’s youth and arts boards.

Those are just a couple of the long-standing commitments the lifelong resident chalks up to a love of the community she lives in.

A highly-accomplished student athlete in her day, Foels was in many ways a natural fit to head up the department and quickly earned a reputation for treating her work as much more than a job.

She was first hired as senior recreation leader for the first time in 1978, and since then has had a role in forming virtually every modern facet of the department.

“Linda was one of the hardest working department heads we’ve had here, and she worked under sometimes adverse conditions,” Mayor Ron Pilozzi said.

Among the achievements of which she’s most proud, Foels mentioned working with John White to start the kids’ fishing derby that draws more than 1,000 people each June, erecting the veterans monument at Veterans Park, and the city’s after school youth program — which has now blossomed into an essential after school homework program.

But the list goes on and on, including building the city’s soccer fields at Ives Pond (now also home to a new community skate park) and the softball field at Veterans Park, coordinating local and travel sports teams, working with downtown merchants for holiday events and Fall Fest.

“It really is endless,” she said. “I had no clue what I was in for but I earned a new respect.”

A new program for youngsters aims to introduce them to the world of sports — though the real emphasis is on teaching parents how to cheer for their kids responsibly.

One thing she said she’s learned after all these years is that it is often the parents, not the children, who need guidance on being good sports.

When Foels took over the department for the second time in her tenure in 2006, it was right before the infamous October Storm.

That, she said, was an event that forever changed the department’s role in managing its tree population, which under Foels’ guidance became a full blown forestry program with hundreds of trees now being closely monitored.

“Your heart has got to be with the community,” she said. “You can’t just collect a paycheck and go home. You have to work with all the community organizations, because often we’re too small to pull anything off by ourselves.”

As for the future, questions linger over when and how Foels will be replaced, as the city is now reviewing the structure of the department.

Foels, for her part, said continuing to promote tourism is essential.

But, she said, funding challenges to the department don’t paint a rosy picture.

“You don’t give up your assets, you don’t give up what you’ve got, you always make more of your assets,” she said, touting Niawanda Park and the burgeoning Gateway Harbor Park as needing even more promotion.

She said the city should embrace online bill payment options, accept credit cards for slip fees at the harbor and generally work to better promote the city as a boater and tourist destination.

“There’s so much more we can do,” she said. “One thing that’s always been hard is to convince people to spend a dollar to make a dollar.”

Of her years at the helm, and the many continuing roles she plays in the city, Foels said help from friends and family has been essential to getting the job done.

For Foels, it really has been a labor of love.

“I’ve had other opportunities. I’ve been offered better paying jobs, but my heart is here. My family is here,” she said. “I’m still friends with the people I used to work with when we were kids.”

She recalled fondly a time recently when a man came up to her who used to frequent the park as a youngster where Foels began her career. She said she was shocked when the man showed her pictures of his grandchildren.

“The real fact of the matter about Linda was her dedication to recreation and parks in this city,” Pilozzi said. “And I would think that her legacy is going to be around for a long, long time.”