Swim club director ends long tenure Art Lawrence has made many friends at club over the years BY VICTORIA HURLEY-SCHUBERT Staff Writer ERIC SUCAR staff Art Lawrence is retiring as the director of the Marlboro Swim Club after more than 20 summers on the job at the popular municipal facility. After more than 20 years of service to the Marlboro Swim Club, Art Lawrence is looking forward to completing his overlooked "honey-do" list, spending time at home and traveling. "We have a long list of things to catch up on," said Lawrence, the now retired director of the swim club who declared himself "not a young kid anymore" at the age of 78. "The position is very demanding; I'm on call from May 1 until Labor Day," overseeing the swim club on Gordons Corner Road and the Marlboro Aquatic Center on Vanderburg Road, said Lawrence. "I thought it was time to pass my job on to someone else." Fred Schafler, who has extensive experience in summer programs and recreation in New York City, will be replacing Lawrence as director. The best part of his job was being out of the office at the pool, said Lawrence, a Marlboro resident. "When the sun comes out and the weather warms up, I'm able to leave the office and get out into the facility. I'm out in the sunshine and fresh air all summer long; and when the weather starts to take a turn for the worse after Labor Day, I'm able to go back into the office to get the pool ready for the following season," he said. Lawrence officially retired on April 30, after becoming director in February 1990, taking over management of the club from an outside company. "At that time there was a long waiting list, two or three years, to get a membership at the swim club. I developed a part-time membership to bring people on the waiting list in part-time," he said. "We were able to open the pool to everybody, nobody had to wait one or two seasons before they could use it." Now, as it faces declining membership and some 1,200 new backyard pools in town, the swim club is allowing residents of other municipalities to join as long as they are sponsored by a member family from Marlboro. "We thought this is something that could turn the membership decline around," said Lawrence, who served on the swim club's board of directors since October 1987. Last year the club had 1,300 member families, a decline from the heyday when 1,900 families were members. Lawrence had overseen many capital improvements, including a major facility renovation in 1991 when two basketball courts were added, later the slide in the deep water tank was added along with other improvements such as lighting upgrades. This year, a large pavilion and 47 new umbrellas were added. The swim club opened in 1975. The club offers three major summer programs: camp, a swim team and swim lessons. The day camp is for children ages 4 to 8 and accommodates 200 youngsters. "We get a lot of our lifeguards from the swim team program," said Lawrence, who oversaw two full-time year-round employees and 140 seasonal workers, whom he will miss the most. "I got very close to all of the lifeguards and the camp staff over the years, most of them return year after year after year. Some of our lifeguards work for us in high school and college, they can work (at the club) for six, seven years. I've developed long-lasting relationships with our employees."