By Emily Patrick
The individuals chosen for our People of the Lake column have by and large fit a certain type: hardened individualists, outdoorspeople who stand apart from the community. This time, we’re celebrating a different type of personality: someone whose quiet devotion to our community, and our kids in particular, has made them part of our community’s very spirit. That person is Sally Tornquist, Director of the Greenville Recreation Department.
We all know Sally. She’s immediately recognizable in any sea of blue and white by her infectious chuckle and permanent smile. Sally can seem an unassuming character at first glance. Though she is humble to a fault, her quiet demeanor masks a fiery passion for our community and dedication to the job that is unmatched by today’s standards.
Sally is a Greenville native. She grew up with her three sisters and recalls the Moosehead Region was a, “Great place to grow up in.” Sally, unsurprisingly, played sports throughout high school and graduated from Greenville Schools in 1975. Sally always liked being in the woods and had a passion for forestry. At one point, she was a “scaler” for Greg Aucoin, determining just “how much” wood was in any given log or lot.
For almost 20 years, she owned her own business as a logging contractor, along with her business partner who is still a dear friend today. Sally says she, “Ran the crane most of the time.” Then, for a time, she was a real estate appraiser. When that industry slowed down, she went to work for the Town, but always kept her appraiser’s license.
When Sally was hired on as Rec Director for the Town of Greenville, she didn’t even have her own office but was instead using the Town Meeting Room and had to leave whenever the space needed to be used for something else. Undeterred, Sally saw an untapped potential in our community to improve and expand the Rec Department and came up with her vision: a “Field of Dreams.”
She had three major goals to start, and has accomplished them all: having a stand-alone Recreation Center, whether it was leased or built, creating a separate field for Rec Program participants to practice (recently built inside the track at the Loren Ritchie Sports Facilities), and creating new programs and activities for the Rec Program, including our recently-featured sailing program and a new Pickleball program. Sally says she is always open to new programs and ideas, so if you would like to see something new on the Rec Program roster, just reach out!
Sally, who has had her real estate license for 9 years and recently switched to Re/Max Infinity (congratulations, Sally!) will be doing more in the real estate sector in the coming years. Still, she has at least one more project she wants to see through: the Red Cross Beach Revitalization Project. Just recently, the new road to the beach from Pritham Avenue opened up. This Fall, Sally expects to have the pump track in, trails in and have the retaining wall done in December or January when the water drops. Still, Greenville Rec needs around $30,000 to see this project through to completion, so please consider donating or reaching out to Sally to see how else you can help.
Sally estimates she spends about 50-60 hours a week working as Greenville’s Rec Director, but I think that is a characteristically modest estimate. Sally is known for attending almost every youth sports event possible. That means a lot of travel, both for sporting events and out of town Rec Department meetings. She says people would be surprised the number of phone calls she has to take, and with the job comes sacrificing many nights and weekends.
Still, Sally does it all with a smile, and enjoys every minute of it except, she says, during winter sports or activities when she has to, “Send people out when it’s snowing.” Whether she realizes it or not, her hard work and dedication do not go unnoticed. Town Manager Mike Roy said of Sally:
“Sally is dedicated to the Greenville Recreation Program, her passion for the area children to enjoy recreational activities is evident. She strives to enhance the quality of life for not only the children, but adults as well, thanks to her we have a wide range of programs that cater to all ages. Her fund-raising events are well attended and supported, her commitment to revitalize Red Cross Beach have started to move the project forward and bring new life to the beach area. I appreciate all she does for the town and the rec program.” So many of us echo that sentiment.
Sally wants to thank her Rec Committee for making all of this, and more, possible: Tammy Vraux, who has worked with Sally from the start, Sheri Kreider, Shannon Gravelle, Katie Larabee and Kate Perkins.
Sally says about her time as Rec Director, “There [are] many memories like winning the Penquis Baseball Farm League last month, seeing the players grow in skill and working as a team, a 7-year-old who was not able to hit a golf ball at first, then hits the longest drive in our golf scramble… Watching a five-year-old slide down a big snow hill for the first time [with] a big smile on their face, children learning how to swim… The list goes on… Most of all, I think how lucky I am to live in this great community and the great outdoors.”
And we’re lucky to have you, Sally. Thank you for all you do, have done, and continue to do. It’s us, and our children, who are the fortunate ones to have such a caring, compassionate, hard-working and dedicated Rec Director cheering us on every step of the way!