On October 30, the University of Rhode Island Child Development Center dedicated its playground to its former director upon her retirement after 27 years at the center.

 

Susan Warford made a mark on the Child Development Center as not only its director, but as mentor and friend to the several hundred students and staff who worked or were taught at the center.

 

At the ceremony, friends and colleagues spoke about Warford’s impact on their lives, and the lives of children she encountered. Current Director Jessica MacLeod spoke about how Warford placed an emphasis on the balance between learning and play.

It seemed fitting to MacLeod, that in addition to naming the playground, now the Susan D.G. Warford Playground, the center chose to also add a balance beam in Warford’s honor. After singing a the hymn “Peace Like a River,” children broke ground on the site for the balance beam.  

 

Up until now, MacLeod spend all her years at the center with Warford, first as her student, and then as her colleague. She remembers meeting Warford for the first time when she was an early childhood education major at URI.

 

“[Sue] was one of those professors who right away you knew was going to be an inspirational figure in your life,” she said. “Sue was kind and gentle and encouraging to me as a beginning teacher, but also pushed me to step outside of my comfort zone.”

 

MacLeod explained that one of her larger impacts on the center was remodeling the playground during her tenure. She revamped the site by making it a proper place for children to play, making it especially fitting for her legacy to continue there.

 

“When Sue renovated this playground, it really changed it for the better for all the children at the child development center,” MacLeod said. “[She] designed it to be a magical play space for children, with a balance of active play on the climber where children are climbing and sliding and hanging upside down on the monkey bars, but also [with] some quiet corners where you can explore nature under the andromeda bush, or at the music center as well.”

 

MacLeod has countless fond memories of Warford. She will be greatly missed by everyone in the community, MacLeod added, but notes that Warford will be right down the road, and is just a phone call away if needed at the center, or if she just wants to chat.

MacLeod is grateful for everything Warford has taught her. She owes her success at the center and her own personal development and growth to Warford’s teachings. MacLeod isn’t alone, either. Warford is just that great of a person, she said.  

 

“I learned everything that i know now about early childhood education from Sue,” she said MacLeod. “You can’t think of the Child Development Center and not think of Sue Warford, this is her life’s work.”