Retiring Mill Creek official: ‘Wow! I had a pretty good run!’

By Elise Franco

efranco@vindy.com

Canfield

Tom Bresko decided more than three decades ago to turn down a job with United Airlines for one at Mill Creek MetroParks, and he never looked back.

Bresko will leave his 36-year career on Friday. He said he has mixed feelings about what he’s leaving behind but not about what lies ahead.

“I’ve had this terrific opportunity to serve my community, and I enjoyed that time,” he said. “But it’s time to move on to the next chapter of my life.”

That next chapter, Bresko said, includes visiting the park as a community member and spending more time with his fianc e.

“I look forward to what I know is going to be an exciting future for me,” he said.

Bresko’s career at the MetroParks began unexpectedly.

After graduating from Ohio State University, he was moving grass and cleaning rest rooms part time in 1977 and nearly ready to accept a job with United Airlines when Bresko said the park’s recreation director stepped down suddenly.

“They called me and asked if I wanted the job,” he said. “I believed in taking that one small step to get started, but I look back now, and go ‘Wow. I had a pretty good run.’”

Bresko said though he served as interim executive director for nearly two years, and most recently, deputy director, his proudest accomplishment was spending 32 years as recreation director.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.