In 1979, Don Camacho was hired by the Town of Snowflake as the Director of Recreation & Parks after graduating as valedictorian from the Brigham Young University’s (BYU) parks and recreation program. Now, 39 years later Camacho has retired and leaves behind quite a legacy.
Camacho was recognized for his service to the town at the town council meeting held on July 3. Each council member spoke to Camacho, thanking him for his devotion to the town and its various programs over the years. Mayor Lynn Johnson said, “Don, as I understand is the longest employee with the Town of Snowflake.”
Camacho grew up in Hawaii and graduated from Kailua High School. He moved to the mainland after high school with some friends and played football and ran track for Snow College. After serving in the United States Army for a time, Camacho enrolled at BYU.
In his career, Camacho wanted the town to have affordable family entertainment through events such as family fun runs, youth sports leagues, adult sports leagues, holiday sports tournaments, Easter egg hunts, youth summer programs, and the annual Christmas tree lighting. Camacho has spent hours in the woods, rain or shine, to hand pick the annual Snowflake town Christmas tree.
Camacho frequently spent weekends and evenings preparing fields for tournaments, taking down nets, scheduling umpires or referees and often officiated sports games himself. He established the skate park, has managed the golf course and the cemetery, maintained the lovely flower pots that line Main Street and maintained the public pool until its closure.
The list goes on and on of things Camacho helped provide for residents to enjoy. One look around Snowflake at the lovely parks and their family oriented amenities shows how much Camacho cared about the community. Even in his final days before retiring Camacho worked many long days to finish the new splash pad at Pioneer Park.
“Anybody that grew up here, one of the highlights of life in the Town of Snowflake was participating in summer softball, basketball during winter, volleyball and all that was made possible by him,” said Mayor Johnson about Camacho.
Camacho’s daughter, Kimberley Camacho Willis, said recently, “I could go on about him for days. He’s a total rock star and has earned his retirement. I certainly hope that the affordable programs that he has built continue to thrive.”
Town council members Hunter Lewis, Greg Brimhall and Cory Johnson shared fond memories of Camacho organizing and officiating their Little League or basketball games as children. “I really appreciate the service you have provided to the town. It’s certainly a better place because of what you have done,” said Lewis to Camacho.
Snowflake Town Manager Brian Richards choked back tears as he spoke about his 21 years working with Camacho. “I have been getting excited for this day and dreading it,” said Richards. He went on to say, “Don, you have been a good friend to me. Don has given his blood, sweat and tears for this town.”
Camacho said, “The programs that I have run were only as good as all the people that helped. I really loved working for the town, I loved my job and the support of my staff, prior town managers, town councils, and the school district. All that made that possible, that 39 years. I want to thank all of them for everything that they did for me to help the programs. You can imagine over the 39 years how many hundreds of people volunteered to make it a success. On that note I say aloha.”
Camacho’s first post retirement adventure will be returning to his hometown of Honolulu, Hawaii, for his high school class reunion. After that he plans to enjoy many rounds of golf, fishing trips and landscaping his daughter Kimberley’s yard.
