Mark Astle retires as Ottawa recreation director, two decades and many programs later

1987 was the last time anyone could participate in recreation activities in Ottawa without running into Mark Astle and on his last night before his retirement, he asked they retire the copying machine, too.

Board Member Brent Roalson joked the copying machine has been there the same amount of time Astle has.

The Playground and Recreation Board did indeed move to ask the City Council for a new copying machine for the recreation office at Astle’s behest. It might’ve been his last day directing Recreation programs for Ottawa but he showed up to work like it was any other. He’s done the job since 2000, when he took over for Dale Smith.

“When I started, I want to say we had 14 summer programs,” Astle said. “And now at our height, the most we’ve ever had is 50.”

These programs include more than just sports leagues: It includes arts and crafts projects for the kids and learning opportunities during the summer.

Public Property Superintendent Steve Kuhn said Astle is incredibly organized in keeping track of budgets and programs.

“Mark has done an amazing job scheduling our summer programs like the fall softball leagues, the normal softball leagues, recreational basketball, and I can’t even remember there’s so many programs,” Kuhn said. “I can’t keep up.”

Astle said it took more coffee than patience some days but he said as long as he made it past the planning stages, he knew he could look forward to everything that came after.

“The planning was the hard part,” Astle said. “Getting everything arranged making sure people were showing up, but once things got started, I had a heck of a good time.”

Directing recreational activities in Ottawa is just Astle’s part-time gig: He still spends his days teaching English at Streator High School.

Astle, while retiring from his recreational directing gig, is sticking around for a bit as Park Supervisor Ameritus. In simple terms, if there’s something only he knows how to fix, he can still help out on occasion.

Astle has also been working with his replacement, Dave Marvin in showing him the ropes.

“He’s also a teacher at Streator High School and he’s got his master’s degree in recreation management,” Astle said. “He worked with me as an intern a couple of summers ago and he’s already familiar with the program. He’s coached forever and ran adult softball for me last year. He’s extremely qualified.”