As executive director of the Lincoln Parks Foundation, Maggie Stuckey-Ross has helped raise millions of dollars for the city’s parks, pools, playgrounds, golf courses and trails.
Soon she will start watching how to spend it.
Maggie Stuckey-Ross, the current executive director of the Lincoln Parks Foundation, has been named the new director of the parks and recreation department.
COURTESY PHOTO
Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird on Tuesday named Stuckey-Ross the next director of the Lincoln Parks and Recreation Department. She replaces 22-year-old director Lynn Johnson, who announced her retirement last month.
“She is a proven leader and team builder and has the knowledge and talent to build on the sites, services and programs that Lynn has developed with such care and skill,” said Gaylor Baird. in a press release.
Since joining the Parks Foundation in 2017, Stuckey-Ross has helped grow his endowment from $9.5 million to nearly $17.3 million, according to the statement.
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The University of Nebraska-Lincoln graduate previously served as Director of Foundation Relations for the University of Nebraska Foundation and Senior Director of Corporate Partnerships for the Arbor Day Foundation.
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“I am proud to follow in the footsteps of my mentor and friend, Lynn Johnson, from whom I learned the true meaning of servant leadership,” she said in the statement.
She begins her new job on June 2, overseeing the department’s 133 parks, 134 miles of trails, 92 playgrounds, 80,000 street trees, nine public swimming pools, six recreation centers, five golf courses, four dog courses. and a nature center.
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PhotoFiles: The Legacy of Pioneers Park in Lincoln
Bathers at Pioneer Park

Sunshine and warm weather draw sunbathers and admirers to Pioneers Park in May 1961.
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baby camel

A new baby camel at Pioneers Park Zoo stays close to its mother’s side as she grazes. The calf was the first dromedary to be born at the zoo in 1979.
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Enjoy the winter snow

A worried boy waves to Christie Schwartzkopf to guide his four-man toboggan past him at Pioneers Park in 1967. Sitting behind her on the sled are Bob Ripley, Ruth Stanton and King Little.
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Columns at Pioneer Park

Overlooking one of the duck ponds in Pioneer Park stands a set of columns with a long history. As part of a joint bicentennial project of the city’s Parks Department and the Junior League of Lincoln, the four pillars that were once positioned at the north entrance to Antelope Park were erected at Pioneers Park in 1975.
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Easter Service at Pioneer Park

People enjoy the Easter service at Pioneers Park in 1973.
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A sculptor makes an Indian statue

Sculptor Ellis Luis Burman constructed the Aboriginal statue which would be placed in Pioneer Park in 1974. The 15-foot clay model of the statue was formed in the Agricultural Hall of the State Fairgrounds using local clay.
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Water Buffalo at Pioneer Park

Two water buffaloes take a break from the summer heat and rest in the water in 1975.
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Hanging bridge

Bob Dodds works on a new suspension bridge over Haines Branch in Pioneers Park. The bridge was built to replace the existing bridge, which was deteriorating in 1992.
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Dedication to the Pillar

The inauguration of the Pioneers Park pillar took place on May 22, 1976.
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Two reindeer are added to the pioneer park

Two reindeer were added to Pioneers Park Zoo in October 1969. Park Superintendent Don Smith, Marvin Copple, Herb Cords, Walter Bunnell and Bill Barden watch the landing of the reindeer.
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bronze buffalo

In 1930, a life-size buffalo was cast in bronze and placed in Harris Circle, where it still stands today.
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Tobogganing at Pioneer Park

Although the snow was not solid on the slide, the sleds were out in force to try it. Kay Stiner prepares to race her as her brother Mark begins his ascent for another bend.
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holiday vacation soccer

A group of high school students play touch football at Pioneers Park in November 1963.
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Feed the geese

Aaron Ridgley and his father, Lou, enjoyed a Memorial Day by feeding waterfowl at Pioneers Park in 1984.
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Buffalo at Pioneer Park

Unlike most Nebraskas of the two-legged variety, this pioneer park buffalo took on 6-inch snowfalls and freezing cold in 1995.
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Heavy snowfall at Pioneers Park

A snowy landscape at Pioneers Park in 1967.
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Pillars in Pioneer Park

The pillars that stand in Pioneers Park were once part of the old United States Treasury Building in Washington, D.C. After being presented to Lincoln in 1916 by Cotter T. Bride, a close friend of William Jennings Bryan, the pillars were placed in Pioneers Park in the mid-1970s.
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Pine Bowl Summer Musical

The summer musical Pinewood Bowl was enjoyed by a crowd in 1984.
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smoke signal

Photographed in 1959, this 15-foot statue depicts a Native American removing a blanket from a fire. Smoke signals were used to transmit news, signal danger, or gather people in a common area.
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Walk in the park

University of Nebraska-Lincoln student Carsten Wiese talks with Ulrich Schweizer and Meike Tjaden as they stroll through Pioneers Park in October 1995.
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Tobogganing on the plains

When you live on the Plains, you have to make do with whatever hills you can find. Jose Sanchez and his daughter Lilydale Sierra enjoy Lincoln’s last snowfall on one of Pioneers Park’s permanent slides in 1983.
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Visit the waterfront

Bev Bartek, outdoor education coordinator for Pioneers Park, takes students from Ruth Hill Elementary School to the waterfront in 1981.
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Prairie Pioneers Interpretive Center

The new platform above the marshes of Pioneers Park is part of the Pioneers Prairie Intepretive Center development.
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Horse-drawn carriage ride in Pioneer Park

Trolley passengers enjoy a slower view of the countryside around Pioneers Park in 1987.
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Pioneers Park Jet Fighter

Pioneers Park worker Bob Miller stands ready near the F-9 jet fighter that was to be moved Beatrice in 1978.
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winter landscape

Joe Schaffer and John Lane leave their mark on the landscape of Pioneer Park after a snowfall in 1966.
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