John Rihm
GREENFIELD — John Rihm, the newest member of the Greenfield Parks board, knows his friend Kathy Dowling left some big shoes to fill.
Dowling, a beloved member of the Greenfield parks and school boards for the past 10 years, left vacancies on the boards as well as people’s hearts when she passed away in November following a lengthy illness.
Rihm, a fellow school board member, was chosen this month to replace her on the parks board.
Her successor on the school board was expected to be announced at the school board meeting on Monday, Jan. 10.
Rihm said he and Dowling had a lot in common. Both worked together for years as educators at Greenfield-Central High School, and both shared a lifelong appreciation for aquatics.
Dowling was a longtime swimming and diving coach at the high school, and Rihm managed the former Riley Pool — since renamed the Kathy Dowling Aquatics Center — for 25 years.
Greenfield-Central school board president Dan Brown said Rihm’s longtime experience running a parks facility made him the perfect candidate for the parks board, in a spot that’s reserved for a Greenfield school board member.
“The best asset you can have is knowledge and passion, and that is what John has and will bring to the parks board,” said Brown.
Parks board president Deby Low agrees.
“John will be a great asset. His passion, as was Kathy’s, has been teaching students, so it’s nice to have that demographic at the table,” she said.
Low pointed out that Rihm is an avid bicyclist, and frequent user of the Pennsy Trail.
“He seems very community-minded, and is very close to what we (at the parks) offer the community,” she said.
Rihm lives just a few blocks from Greenfield-Central High School, where he taught science for 42 years, and used to walk to school almost every day.
He ran for the school board the year he retired, in 2018.
“It was my way to continue to stay involved with the school I’ve been involved with for so many years,” said Rihm, who is serving his third year of a four-year term.
He started teaching at Greenfield-Central in 1976, shortly after graduating from Knightstown High School and earning a degree in secondary education from Indiana State University.
He and his wife, Patricia, raised their two sons in Greenfield, and they love what the community has to offer.
“I have been impressed with the work our parks department has been doing, and the direction they’re moving in, and I’d like to help see that continue,” he said.
Rihm loves the fact the parks department is working on expanding the city’s trail system, working toward one day connecting all of the city’s parks by trails.
“I’m interested in seeing how that goes. I think it’s a really healthy attraction for our community,” he said.
As an avid trail user, he’s been impressed with the job the parks department does in building and maintaining existing trails.
“I use the Pennsy quite a bit, and I’ve been impressed with how well they keep that trail up,” he said. “If we had gotten three feet of snow, I could have gone out there and it would already been clean and walkable. The maintenance crew does a good job.”
Rather than bringing in a long list of his own directives, Rihm said he’s looking forward to helping implement the work that’s already in motion at the parks department.
“I think Riley Park needs some work, but those plans are already being developed, so I’m looking forward to helping see it through,” he said.
