Brewster Family Access to Recreation Fund

As a swimmer, diver, field hockey, tennis player and physical education major at CMU (then Central Michigan Teacher's College), our mother, Esther Trussell Brewster, understood and valued the importance of recreation in the lives of both young people and adults. Our father, Jack Brewster, was a fine athlete as a young man and a dedicated Little League, Pony League and Colt League baseball coach when brother, Jack, was growing up and for some years after.

We were an active family. Our parents encouraged - even required - that we get out and move. There were no public busses or a family car furnished to get us to the Island Park pool or skating rink. We walked or rode our bikes into town from our East Broadway home. If there had been a hockey rink or bike paths available to us, we would have been eager users of such facilities. These lessons were well learned as each of us continues to be active into our mature years. One sister has been a world class skier, another a senior Olympian, another a champion trail runner, the fourth an accomplished horsewoman and our brother a fine golfer. Our children continue in this tradition, several of them notable athletes in their own fields. Recreation and activity rule in our homes in equal importance with work.

The intention for the creation of the Brewster Family Fund is to support, at some level, efforts to furnish recreational opportunities to the residents of our home town. At a time when fitness for health and awareness of the environment are of even greater importance than ever to the sustenance of our society, the Mt. Pleasant Area Community Foundation is the perfect vehicle for this effort and is doing a terrific job in fulfilling this goal.

It would be gratifying if like minded individuals would contribute to this Fund, either as a tribute to the man & woman to whom it is dedicated, or as a validation of the ever growing need for people to have access to the outdoors and other recreational venues. It is our family's sincere hope that the Foundation will continue to utilize the Brewster Family Fund to promote such efforts and expand the fine facilities already constructed.

~written by Diane Tope, Jack and Esther Brewster’s daughter