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Park City Council Recognizes Recreation Supervisor Karen Yocum, As She Retires

A man in a green sweater and a woman in a red sweater stand at a podium, laughing
Park City Municipal Corporation

Karen Yocum arrived in Utah on June 30, 1988. The following month, Park City Municipal hired her part-time to count the number of people using the tennis courts and hand out equipment.

 

Since then, Park City recreation has seen a lot of changes. There’s more field space now; the former racquet club is now the PC MARC. Most notably for Yocum, though, is the recreation department’s inclusion of out-of-the-box programming, such as the skate park, dirt jump park, archery and fishing.

“My degree being in physical education, I was really focused on traditional sports and teaching kids how to play those games, and that's what I loved," Yocum said. "Over the years, I was able to transition, and I started two programs recently in the last, probably, five years: archery and fishing. So our whole office has transitioned to a lot of non-traditional sports, things that, as kids, we didn't grow up doing.”

Park City Recreation Manager Ken Fisher says he was skeptical when Yocum approached him with an idea for a fishing program. But she put in the groundwork, forming a relationship with the Department of Natural Resources and securing grants and volunteers for the program.

“Through these grants and all that, the city now owns fishing equipment—lots of fishing equipment, due to her work," Fisher said. "Honestly, all that stuff was really bought and donated through grants and organizations that were willing to donate that, to Karen going pounding on the door.”

After three decades with the city, Yocum says she’ll probably start her retirement by going someplace warm—at least for a little while.

“Two of my three children live outside of Utah, so I'll travel to see them and my grandchildren," Yocum said. "Plan to do a lot of fishing, visit some national parks, do a lot of camping. I'm excited to actually live in Park City and get to set my schedule when I want to go somewhere.”

Yocum hired Fisher in 1991. He says his life would have turned out very differently if she hadn’t.

“A lot of people have come up to me and said, what are you going to do, are you going to hire three people to replace her?" Fisher said. "I wish I could because that's probably what we need. But Karen has really exemplified what it means to be a professional, be a model city employee and be a great friend. We're going to miss her.”

Yocum’s last day with the city is Jan. 2.

Emily Means hadn’t intended to be a journalist, but after two years of studying chemistry at the University of Utah, she found her fit in the school’s communication program. Diving headfirst into student media opportunities, Means worked as a host, producer and programming director for K-UTE Radio as well as a news writer and copy editor at The Daily Utah Chronicle.