WILTON — Effective Monday, Jan. 2, Frank Donald, Wilton’s Parks and Recreation Director, will be stepping back from full time to part time. His last official day as a full-time director will be Friday, Dec. 30.

When asked what his reasoning was behind his decision, Donald simply said, old age.

Director for over 30 years, Donald has been a mainstay to the Wilton community for so long, many can’t imagine what the Parks and Recreation Department would be like without his presence.

“I’d say it’s been kind of humbling a little bit, because I’ve had tons of people around town get worried that you know, I was thinking about retiring. ‘You can’t leave. You don’t work for the rec department; you are the rec department.’ I hear that a lot,” Donald said.

Donald is not completely done with the department. According to Donald, he will be reducing his hours and overseeing the department as others fill in for him.

“For the foreseeable future here, the plan is for me to still be the Parks and Recreation director, and I’ll hold it up and do a lot of the planning, scheduling, ordering, that sort of thing. And then I’ll turn over pieces of the job to Renee [Woodard] and Dylan [Stefani] and I’ll just kind of oversee it,” Donald said.

As of the writing of this article, there is no position that is being posted for a full-time replacement for Parks and Recreation Director. Donald and the Wilton Select board have come to an agreement to have his hours reduced but keep him as director.

Donald hopes to continue with the department for several more years.

“[I am] going to eventually transition into retirement full time. It’s kind of a unique situation, we’re experimenting with it right now. And if everybody’s happy with it, you know, I might do it for a few years.”

With this shift in hours, Donald hopes to spend more time with his wife and grandchildren.

“She sacrificed a lot of time away, you know, with me gone to my job coaching, various levels of school basketball. And so, we’re looking forward to, you know, not any major trips or anything like that, but just spend a little more time together.

“We’ve got quite a passel of grandkids and now even a bunch of great grandkids, so I suspect they’ll keep us busy as well.”