The Easthampton Little League recommended the fields be renamed after Jason Scott-Allen, Lynn Robert Milne, Barry and June Wilby, and Lee E. Gagner, Sr.
View full sizeLee E. Gagner, Sr., in blue hat, in a photo provided by his wife.EASTHAMPTON – The City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to continue the process of renaming three baseball and softball fields at Nonotuck Park after major contributors to the Little League and Lassie League programs.
The Easthampton Little League recommended the fields be renamed after Jason Scott-Allen and Lynn Robert Milne, Barry and June Wilby, and Lee E. Gagner, Sr.
Lynn Robert Milne, 61, has sat on the Little League Board of Directors since 1986, a year after his son started playing T-Ball at the age of 5. He also worked as a coach and an umpire and worked the Little League concession stand.
Jason Scott-Allen Milne developed a malignant brain tumor in 1994 and died in 1995, 11 days after his 15th birthday.
“I’d spend every night with him at the hospital,” Lynn Robert Milne said. “I changed my clothes there, showered there, everything.”
“But I kept going with the Little League because he wanted me to,” he said.
Lynn Robert Milne said he was unaware that the name change would also honor his son, but “I would love for that to happen. ... I do a lot of this because it brings back memories of my son playing baseball down there.”
The field is now known as Major 3. It would become Milne Field.
Marcia K. Gagner, wife of Lee E. Gagner, Sr., who passed away last year at 67, said she was shocked when she heard about the possible dedication.
Lee E. Gagner, Sr., was a coach for the all-girls Lassie League and ran its iconic Snack Shack concession stand. In a memo to the City Council, the Parks & Recreation Department said his work at the Snack Shack was his biggest contribution.
Marcia Gagner said her husband was involved in the program for 15 to 20 years until he developed pancreatic cancer.
“My husband, bless his soul, was such a private person” and would be embarrassed by the honor, she said. “I’m just so happy that somebody’s recognizing him.”
The field is currently known as Lassie 1. It would become Gagner Field.
Barry Wilby, former assistant principal at Easthampton High School, coached for the Lassie League for 16 years and currently coaches the Junior Varsity team at the high school. June Wilby, his wife, has served on the boards of directors for both leagues and is a former president of the Lassie League.
“I always thought that the girls, years and years ago, were treated as second-class citizens,” said Barry Wilby. “My wife and I believed the girls could only become equal” after the Lassie and Little Leagues merged, a dream the Wilbys helped to become a reality in 2002.
“I feel very odd,” said June Wilby, who also wrote a grant that funded the construction of the dugouts at Lassie 1. “I just don’t feel worthy of this.”
The field is known as Lassie 2. It would become Wilby Field.
Barry Wilby said he would love for his granddaughter, who is about 18 months old, to see that name on the field.
The City Council voted to form a new committee, as required by city bylaws, that will review the dedications. If it approves the renaming, the council will make a final vote.
As of Sunday, it was unclear how long that process could take, but council president Joseph McCoy said he expected it would be "rapid."
The fields are located past the swimming pool, near the soccer fields.