Love of community drove Springfield native’s long service with park district

Greg James loves Springfield. 

As a kid, he learned to swim at Willamalane Pool and attended events in the parks, including the annual Broiler Festival. 

He saw the role parks and recreation played in creating spaces where community members could feel connected and have a sense of belonging. So, he decided to get involved. 

That involvement led to his serving 23 years on the Willamalane Park and Recreation Board of Directors, a volunteer role the 64-year-old stepped down from earlier this year. 

“I always have hope that at the end of the day I can look back and reflect and think that in whatever little way it was, that some difference was made,” James told Lookout Eugene-Springfield. “And I think there’s just a sense of pride and accomplishment in that.”

Willamalane is Springfield’s park and recreation district. Its five-member board sets policy, adopts the annual budget, and hires and directs Willamalane’s executive director. Board members are elected to four-year terms.

Passion for serving

James was born in Springfield in 1961. Public service was central to his family’s values, and at Springfield High School, James was elected Associated Student Body vice president, his wife said.

“He’s always had this passion for serving and for government-type things,” Brenda James said. 

She said the community has always been at the center of her husband’s heart, “because it’s been really good to us. We’ve watched Springfield grow and change.”

Brenda James said her husband traveled many times to Washington, D.C., during his Willamalane tenure, as part of the United Front partnership of Lane County to champion for federal resources for local parks.

“I personally feel really proud because he doesn’t just talk the talk, he’s out there and he’s walking the walk, and he is living what he believes,” she said. “If you want something different in a community, you need to do something that allows you to have a voice. And he’s always made that a priority.”

The two met in a 10th-grade English class and married in 1981. They raised two children in Springfield, taking them to parks to play as their parents did when they were young. In 1982, Greg James started in a maintenance job at the Springfield School District and worked his way up to purchasing manager. He retired from the school district in 2018.

With a passion for parks and recreation along with experience in public finance, James applied for Willamalane’s budget committee and was appointed in 2000. In 2003, he was appointed to replace a retiring board member. He would go on to be elected to the board six times.

“I felt really drawn to something specifically that I could use my time to have some impact on this community,” James said. 

His tenure on the board included an expansion of Willamalane parks, facilities and services, including the acquisition of the Thurston Hills Natural Area, where Willamalane built a trailhead and trail system.

“That is such a legacy project,” he said. “You know that acreage up on the hillside, in 30 or 40 years, people will be looking at that and they’ll be saying, how in the world did Willamalane have the foresight to have that acreage set aside so close to, probably at that time, the center of this urban environment.”

Willamalane also constructed the paved Middle Fork path, which connects Clearwater Park to Dorris Ranch, and the Mill Race path. The district purchased the Regional Sports Center, which expanded and became the Bob Keefer Center and completed numerous parks, including Volunteer, Jasper, Rob Adams, Pacific and Quartz. 

James downplayed his accomplishments in helping Willamalane’s growth.

“It’s about what this organization has been able to do just during my tenure, and I played a part of a role in that,” he said. 

“Good leadership really is about good governance. It’s really about listening to your community and being a true representative of your community members and then delivering as opportunities present themselves,” James said. “And so this park district is built on the shoulders of generations of incredible leaders that saw the need and stepped up and did their part to garner support.”

Last month, the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce honored James with its Distinguished Citizen award for his decades of public service. Several of his family members — including his wife, daughter and three of his grandkids — took the stage at Wildish Community Theater with him as he accepted the award.

A mentor and friend

Chris Wig, who has served on the board of directors since 2019, said one of James’ accomplishments is accompanying external growth with “growth in procedures and processes and all of the aspects of governance that you need to run an organization of this size successfully.”

He said the capstone is Willamalane earning a national park-and-recreation accreditation in 2022.

“I feel so fortunate that I was welcomed to the board and had the opportunity to learn from Greg,” Wig said. “He is a spectacular mentor and friend. When new people join the board or join the budget committee, he is gracious with his time and with his intellect and experience.”

Wig said that when James talks about how much he cares for and loves the community, “that is 100% genuine and core to who he is as a person.”

Michael Wargo is Willamalane’s executive director and counts James as a mentor.

“I owe him a deep amount of gratitude for that support that he gave me personally, but most importantly, just his commitment to the Springfield community,” Wargo said. 

He said James pushed Willamalane to resume after-school child care programs following the COVID-19 pandemic, and when there were no funds to expand preschool at Bob Keefer Center, James encouraged Willamalane to find partners. The district would partner with the University of Oregon, secure an investment and create the Tiny Ducks Preschool, “which dramatically increased the number of preschool spots that we were able to offer our community,” Wargo said.

He said James will have a lasting impact on the district.

“I think that we all have a lot of Greg’s philosophy in us moving forward,” Wargo said. “It’s really about being committed to community first, always, and listening to what the community wants.”

James said it was the right time for him to step down from the board. He and his wife plan to travel and spend more time with their kids and grandkids. He also said he is confident in the current board members, who “have the desire and vision to continue moving this organization forward in the way that it deserves.”

He and his wife will continue to enjoy Springfield’s parks, trails and paths as they always have.