Whether Dan Stencil is trying to bring the 2008 pre-Olympic qualifier in Motorcross to Waterford Oaks, running the Boston Marathon, or just hosting a barbecue at his Clarkston home for 300 or 400 hundred of his closest friends, he will always be committed to ensuring that the event is a success.
‘People who know me well know that I have a high energy level and my meter is always going ? although it has choked down a little bit since I turned 50,? Stencil said.
Even now Stencil’s weekly undertaking is staggering, yet he maneuvers through it all with a smile on his face. The secret to his grin is that he does what he loves, in his home life with his 12 year-old twin boys, Andrew and Bradley, and at work where he is entering his 28th year with Oakland County Parks and Recreation.
‘I’ve become better professionally at balancing everything ? I have focused on certain things and I don’t get to spread out,? Stencil said.
A Clarkston resident for 14 years, Stencil loves living in the area because of the history and the greenery that it offers. What has also made residing in Clarkston such a dream for Stencil is how it has been preserved over the years.
‘Whether you are at the Union having a beer or going to the market to pick up some specialty items, (Clarkston’s) got that hometown feel,? Stencil said.
The way Clarkston and Stencil mesh so well together is easy to understand when you look at how he grew up in Wausau WI. The rural town is sandwiched between Minneapolis and Green Bay. A self-professed ‘Packer fan to the nines? Stencil’s favorite football team also employed him in his teens along with many members of his family. While Stencil simply tore tickets from the age of 14 up until his 18th birthday, his aunts and uncles were a little more hands on.
‘They used to carry canes ? kids would try to climb over the fence and they’d whack them on the shins to get them off,? Stencil said.
Aside from getting to sit in the aisle during Packer games, Stencil’s upbringing in and around the woods of his hometown instilled in him the love of nature, which makes his job with Parks and Recreation such a joy for him. He was also taught a tough lesson about grit and determination when he was 16 and lost his right eye in a hunting accident.
‘I am an overachiever, I am handicapped but I am not handicapped, I look at it as an opportunity,? Stencil said.
The loss of his eye certainly did not keep him from garnering a football scholarship to Northern Michigan University. Nor did it prevent him from becoming a Kodak All-American center on a team that featured Steve Mariucci at quarterback and went on to win the Division II National Championship posting a 13-1 record along the way. When he graduated in 1976 from NMU with a degree in park management he continued his education at Western Illinois and finished off a degree in administration. With his love of nature and his degrees in tow he found a perfect fit with Parks and Recreation when he moved to the area in 1977.
‘My vocation, being involved in parks and recreation and being a public servant is my lifelong dream, giving back to the community or building community that’s what my mode of operation is and that’s what gets me pumped up,? Stencil said.
Stencil has many loves in his life but his love of nature sticks out like a green thumb. His job allows him to make sure that all of the Oakland County parks are as beautiful as his own meticulously maintained garden at home.
Aside from being operations administrator with the Parks and Recreation, Stencil is also the president elect of the State Professional Association, a member of the Optimists Club and the originator of Whoville. Anyone who has driven through the Sashabaw Creek Meadows subdivision, where Stencil lives, at Christmas time will instantly see the correlation between Dr. Seuss? fantasy town brimming with holiday spirit and the 54 house neighborhood in Clarkston.
‘It’s something that I organized years ago and it has grown to now when people move in to the neighborhood they get told early on what the game plan is,? Stencil said.
His entire yard is lit up at Christmas time and the angle of his roof provides a perfect billboard to script season’s greeting on in lights. The only hard part he says is getting the lights up there. But in the grand scheme of things getting lights on top of his house to spell out ‘Happy Holidays? will be child’s play to a man who finished the 100th anniversary running of the Boston Marathon despite both of his hamstrings locked up on the 26th mile.
‘I felt like I was on two gimpy peg legs but I wouldn’t quit, I had to finish,? Stencil said.
The life that Stencil has crafted for himself suits him perfectly; his biggest problem is finding time to engage in his many pursuits. Quality time with his family and at work are the only things that Stencil longs for more of. Looking into the future he sees himself retiring from Parks and recreation at the age of 62 having worked there for 39 years and comfortably tending his garden
‘I’ll just be out in my yard working the flowers,? Stencil said. ‘That’s probably where I’ll be.?