Honoring Dr. Frances Wallach
If you didn’t have the privilege of meeting Dr. Frances Wallach, it’s safe to say that you missed out on an incredible person. Even if you never met her, she was present in your life and the lives of countless children the world over as she spent much of hers advocating for playground safety—sharing her passion, knowledge, and talents.
Fran left us on January 27, 2008, at the age of 80, but her legacy really will continue with the foundation she helped build for the safety of our children and their posterity as well. On behalf of Playground Magazine, a warm thank you for all she contributed to our publication and for the profound impact she had on the industry. She will be greatly missed.
In writing this I discovered that the best way to share just how much she meant to the playground industry and those with whom she worked is to share a tribute from colleagues and good friends at this time, although it is realized that it would take much more than one article to really do her justice. This is a little longer feature than normal for that reason. Fran was very important to our industry—yet a very grounded person all the while.
I spent several hours last night going through my boxes of work over the past two decades and came across an 8 x 10 color photo, a duplicate of one I sent to Fran back in 2005 as a gift remembering the good times she, Robert Heath and I had spreading the playground safety gospel during the 90’s and early 2000’s. In the envelope was a touching thank you card from Fran, which immediately made me sit down and thank God for providing the wonderful gift of Fran that we all had the joy to know and experience. My eyes swelled with tears as I clutched this precious handwritten note thanking us for our love. I am enclosing the note and photo for you to share with Playground Magazine readers.
When I think of all the professional accomplishments that Fran accumulated over her wonderful career—her love for all of us continues to touch my heart. I cannot tell you how many times I personally witnessed her calm down a group of narrowly focused individuals during the ASTM process and bring the group together towards our goal of the world’s best safety standard for public playground equipment. Fran’s love for her colleagues and friends is an example that we all should aspire to and I look forward to “playing” with her again when my time on this planet expires.
With all my love for a great leader, friend, and mentor;
Tom Norquist
Sr. VP Marketing, Product Development & Sales
GameTime/PlayCore
Fran was first and foremost my friend. She was also my mentor, confidant, sounding board, and fellow advocate in creating a safe world of children’s play for close to five decades. Frank Cosgrove, then the Midwest Regional Director of NRPA, introduced us in 1970 as a resource for the new National School on Park Planning and Safety. Her input was instrumental in setting the groundwork for the successful program that is today. She and I worked on the safety format. In 1972 we co-taught our first playground safety course to over 100 students. We did this each year until the National Playground Safety Institute was established.
Fran encouraged my participation in ASTM, which also gave us an opportunity to talk about our lives, our families, and the joys of grandchildren. We shared experiences that influenced various decisions we made. We talked about the playground industry and the changes that were occurring for safer products, and more interesting and creative play. Thinking back to our earlier conversations we did embrace change but did not visualize playgrounds as they are today.
As we were making playground history, we came to realize the values in the changing social structure of playgrounds, how children play, and the impact the playground has on children’s lives. As I sit here thinking of Fran, our friendship, and the influence she has had on my life, what I will remember most is her ultimate integrity. Fran had a gift for analyzing situations and putting them in the proper perspective and I will miss our conversations. In the past few years, Fran acquired the title of Queen of the Playground World. It was based on her knowledge and leadership. There is no one to take her place and we will all miss her.
MaryLou Iverson, CPSI, CRPP
Iverson and Associates
My first experiences with playground safety in the early 1980s included documents written by Fran Wallach. Fran has always been an advocate of child safety and has been instrumental in the development of many playground organizations including ASTM, and NPSI, and even as a member of the Playground Magazine advisory board, originating with the former Today’s Playground magazine. The playground safety movement owes many thanks to Fran for all her efforts. She will be greatly missed.
Curtis Stoddard
Picture Perfect Playgrounds
IPEMA was deeply saddened to learn of Fran Wallach’s passing. Many of our membership companies have built wonderful relationships with Fran throughout the years, and her contribution to our field is immeasurable. It’s impossible to put all of Fran’s accolades and efforts on behalf of the playground industry into words, but her dedication to safe playgrounds for kids was tireless. In addition to holding numerous positions in the playground industry, Fran was a member of IPEMA’s Board of Advisors for the Voice of Play initiative in 2007 and had enthusiastically signed on for another year in 2008. Her presence will be greatly missed.
Fran has been my friend for over 40 years. My first job right out of college was as Recreation Supervisor for the Oceanside, NY School District. Fran was a young suburban mom, raising three children and participating in community activities. She was the Chairman of the Oceanside Theatre Guild. I was responsible for providing support services to the Theatre Guild and enjoyed becoming her friend as we produced one musical after another. Her ability to entertain was amazing and she often had parties for theatre groups, friends, and colleagues at her home in Oceanside.
As time passed, she graduated from community volunteer work and became a professional in the parks and recreation field, earned her advanced degrees, and became a leader in the New York State, the Northeast Regional, and the National Recreation and Parks movement. I was privileged to work with her both in her professional recreation endeavors and benefitted from her never-ending activities to support young professionals, especially women in recreation. She was responsible for countless formal and informal self-improvement sessions at state and national recreation conferences that provided support and mentoring to young professionals.
The training programs that she provided in matters relating to playground safety were instrumental in bringing a whole new level of awareness to people working in the parks and playgrounds field. She spoke at conferences, sales meetings, and seminars and was known as the premier authority in playground safety. We were grateful when, through her efforts and the efforts of others, the National Playground Safety Institute was founded and the training in playground safety was formalized.
What I will remember most about Fran is the unselfish way she gave of her time and talents to help others succeed and stay in touch. She introduced people she knew would find common ground. She kept in close touch with her friends as well as her business colleagues. She was the focal point for reunions of old friends from the early recreation days as well as the friends from her work on the national level.
She was fun to be with. She loved to laugh. You could always find her at a trade show or event by following the sound of her laugh. She spent time talking through problems and never made people feel like they were not important. She was a person that I could always count on to be there when I needed her.
Fran guided me into the playground field, advised me in the creation of a playground business, encouraged me to participate in ASTM, and helped me to become a litigation consultant for playground injuries. I became her Associate in Total Recreation Management Services, Inc. in 2006 and will be proud to carry on with the business of TRMS in the future I will really miss being able to call her to discuss the details of work and everyday life.
Peggy Payne
Total Recreation Management Services, Inc.
I met Dr. Frances Wallach 20 years ago—in March 1988, in Philadelphia at the initial meeting of individuals gathered to consider creating an American Society for Testing and Materials standard for public playground equipment. At that time Fran was a former superintendent of the Department of Recreation and Parks for Nassau County NY, president of her own consulting firm Total Recreation Management Services, Inc., as well as a faculty member of the Leisure Education program of Columbia University. The group enthusiastically selected Fran to chair the new ASTM Sub-committee created to work on the task of creating this new safety standard. Fran chaired our group until persistent health problems for both her husband Gil and Fran herself prevented her from traveling to ASTM quarterly meetings after 2005. For her excellent leadership, Fran received the ASTM Margaret Dana Award as well as the ASTM Award of Merit, the highest award offered by that organization.
In the fall of 1990 Fran, along with Ken Kutska and I, met with NRPA Executive Director Dean Tice at the Phoenix NRPA Congress, to convince him to allow us to offer a special two-day pre-congress playground safety institute for the 1991 NRPA Congress in Baltimore. Because of the success of that educational session, the National Playground Safety Institute was formally created. NPSI officially became an ongoing educational program of NRPA in May 1993. Fran served as a member of the initial NPSI Executive Board and was re-elected and served continuously on that board until her death, in recent years she has attended all board meetings by conference call. She was an NPSI Instructor until her health prevented further participation in that role. For her leadership and guidance, Fran was named NPSI Distinguished Fellow, the highest award offered by that organization.
These accolades reflect the respect and admiration that Fran’s colleagues had for her. She personified the term “expert.” She had a brilliant intellect, incorporated analytical and logical reasoning, and possessed a fantastic memory of pertinent facts that she could summarize in a clear, concise, and rational progression. Fran accomplished so much because she was a quiet leader, patient, modest, and unassuming. She was highly respected by leaders in the playground and park management professions because she was a conservative change agent, receptive to others’ ideas, but always focused on the future. In her roles as an educator, mentor, and professional, she was a role model for others to emulate.
Her legacy is such that everyone who knew Fran Wallach is a better person because of it.
Monty Christiansen, CPSI
In Honor of a Great Woman, Colleague, Mentor, and Friend
I have had the pleasure of knowing Fran as both a colleague and personal friend for more than 20 years. I cannot think of how many times I relied on her guidance when it came to playground issues throughout the early 1980s. Fran was a great mentor to many of the NPSI Board members, and CPSI Course Instructors, as well as many Play Equipment Manufacturer representatives, ASTM F15.29 Subcommittee Members, CPSC Staff, and other play and playground safety advocates. I think Monty Christiansen best described her accomplishments in the area of Play and Safety when he referred to her as the Queen Mum of Play in America. Fran’s pragmatic approach to any challenge and her engaging participatory management style to all interested parties regardless of their focus has been a guiding example to me as I attempt to follow in her footsteps as Chair of the ASTM Subcommittee for public playground safety performance requirements. Fran’s contributions to the ASTM Standards process will be truly missed but never forgotten.
Over the past few weeks, I have had some time to reflect back on some of the memorable moments working with Fran. I cannot praise her contributions enough to the NRPA NPSI effort. For years she spent countless hours after full-day ASTM and NRPA business meetings, in more meetings. This time with a few of us as we worked our way through the tedious NRPA National Certification Board’s process to gain approval of our new NPSI CPSI Course and Exam initiative. After almost three years our efforts resulted in the approval of national certification status for playground safety inspectors based on a recognized body of knowledge. Fran helped guide us through this process, creating the framework for the competencies necessary for achieving CPSI status. Fran has been the only chair the NPSI Certification Committee has ever had. Fran continued to serve NRPA NPSI even as it became more difficult for her to travel. She continued to share her Wednesday evenings immediately after full-day ASTM Committee meetings to be with her fellow NPSI Board members for pizza or sub sandwich dinner as we continued to work to make NPSI programs and the CPSI Course and Exam more meaningful to the industry. She always provided great counsel making sure all points of view were addressed.
Everything Fran did was always done in the best interests in mind for the ones who mattered most—the children. My thoughts and prayers go out to Fran’s family, her husband Gil, and all who are feeling the loss of a great woman, friend, mentor, colleague, and child advocate.
We will miss you but not forget you as we celebrate all your contributions that will continue to benefit us all.
Kenneth S Kutska, CPRP CPSI
Chair Subcommittee F15.29
Fran’s contribution to the Playground industry was immeasurable.
She served as commissioner of parks and recreation for Nassau County, one of New York’s largest counties just outside New York City.
In the 70s she was marketing manager for GameTime. In 1985 she embarked on a 22-year consulting relationship with Fibar. She was largely responsible for the successful market introduction of Engineered Wood Fiber.
This relationship with Fibar involved amongst other duties doing over 200 presentations across the USA and Canada along with Robert Heath (president of Fibar) and latterly with Tom Norquist (VP of sales and marketing for GameTime). Her presentation of the intricacies of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Americans with Disabilities (ADA), and ASTM International regulations and guidelines always garnered her unqualified praise from the thousands of people who attended these lectures.
Her chairmanship of the ASTM International Playground Committee F15 spanned almost 20 years and was characterized by her even-handed way of dealing with many difficult situations and differences of opinion. She was always “the voice of reason.” She never took sides and her famous “cackle” laugh lightened up many a situation.
Above all else Fran was a “people person.” She had an uncanny knack for always knowing what to do even in the most difficult of situations. She always did it with humor and sincerity.
She is survived by her husband Gilbert of almost 60 years, a daughter, two sons, and 5 grandchildren.
She will be sorely missed but never forgotten.
A memorial fund is being set up, details of which are being worked out.
Please send checks made payable to: Fran Wallach Memorial Fund c/o R Heath, 18 Tallwoods Road, Armonk, New York 10504.
Please include your e-mail address with your donation so that we can apprise you of the details of the memorial.
Robert Heath,
President of Fibar Systems