Noble honored for Park District service

Bonnie Noble first became involved in the Peoria Park District in 1873 when she was elected a trustee on the district's board and later the board's president. She later became its executive director, a position she has held 21 years.

For that 40 years of service to the district, overseeing the growth and improvements to the city's parks and expanding its recreational opportunies, Noble this week received a honor that will last beyond her.

The Peoria Park Board voted to name the district's administration building at the former Lakeview Museum the Bonnie W. Noble Center for Park District Administration. At the same meeting the board presented a resolution to Noble commending her leadership, under which the district won the National Gold Medal Award three times and was a Gold Medal finalist nine other times.

"Future generations will benefit from Noble's leadership and vision, including but not limited to: the development and programming of the RiverFront, the District's Golf Learning Center and Academy, Africa! and the new Peoria Zoo and the planned Peoria PlayHouse Children's Museum, RiverPlex Recreation and Wellness Center, Heart of Illinois Special Recreation Association, the Illinois Riverbluff Trail and the Rock Island Pimiteoui Trail extension," the resolution said.

In reflecting on Noble's accomplishments, Park Board President Tim Cassidy stated, "In my view, the service and dedication Bonnie Noble has put forth as executive director of the Park District has made our community a significantly better place."

Noble said she was surprised by the action and "extremely honored."

However, she said, "I certainly didn't do it alone. I had a lot of help along the way from a lot of really great people."

The Park District administration will move into the Lakeview building after renovations, including asbestos abatement, are completed. Noble said she believes that will be about the first of next year.

After that the current administration building in Glen Oak Park will become the Children's Museum.

Among the accomplishments in Noble's tenure at the Park District has been less reliance on public funds to operate the district, even though its annual budget has tripled since she became executive director. At the time she took the job 60 percent to 70 percent of the district's funding was from property taxes, with the rest coming from gifts, fees, charges for programming and reinvesting.

That ratio has been reversed, largely because of partnerships she and the Park District have forged with different companies and organizations in Peoria, including Caterpillar, OSF Healthcare, the city and the county.

Another accomplishment, and one she is most proud of because she has worked on it all 40 years, was completion of the Pimiteoui Trail, and the overhaul and expansion of the Peoria Zoo.

In an interview with The Peorian last year Noble was quick to credit her staff. "I have a very open management style and my staff knows they can come to me with their ideas and how we can work together to make them happen. And we work very well together as a team here. I believe you try to lure people to work for you who are smarter than you. When your people are really good you just let them go and do their jobs. They'll ask for help if they need it," she said.

About the Author

Paul Gordon is the editor of The Peorian after spending 29 years of indentured servitude at the Peoria Journal Star. He’s an award-winning writer, raconteur and song-and-dance man. He also went to a high school whose team name is the Alices (that’s Vincennes Lincoln High School in Indiana; you can look it up).