During her years as a volunteer with Royal City Youth Soccer, Anne Monk was unforgettable.

Not only because she was a one-woman army but because of her unyielding persistence that every soccer-playing child should have a place to play.

A memorial for Anne Monk, who died 10 years ago, is being held Tuesday from 7 to 9 p.m. It will take place at what the club named Anne Monk Memorial Field, but which the City of New Westminster officially calls the Canada Games all-weather field.

The club has been told by city staff its bylaws won’t allow it to name the field after Monk, who lobbied long and hard to have it built. They were told a person has to be dead 25 years before it can be named after them.

Monk apparently has 15 years to go.

But obviously exceptions can be made though, said Karen Murray, RCYSC’s manager and an organizer of the memorial. After all, we now have Justin Morneau Field, named after the Minnesota Twins slugger and first baseman.

But that’s a little aside. The important thing this week is to remember Anne Monk, said Murray.

“We’re trying to keep her name alive,” she said.

That’s a difficult thing to do in youth sports. There’s a perpetual turnover of players and parents as kids join and eventually graduate to the adult leagues.

But at Tuesday’s memorial, participants will be reminded of who she was and what she did.

Monk was originally a typical soccer mom for her two sons when they joined the club around 1995. Then she became the manager of the two teams they were on.

She didn’t stop there.

The club only had about 250 players then. RCYSC had stagnated, partially because there weren’t enough fields. As well, youth soccer was low on the amateur sports totem pole so their field time was limited.

A motivated Monk joined the executive and quickly became the president, serving four terms before she died of cancer in 1999. Despite working as a school librarian, she found time to manage two teams, volunteer as the club’s registrar and secretary and serve as president.

If that wasn’t enough, she regularly shoved her face in front of the city’s parks and recreation commission and council. She constantly lobbied for more fields because the club was now growing—peaking at 1,250 in 1999.

One of the fields she convinced the city to build was the all weather field, the one the club calls the Anne Monk Memorial Field. It was built soon after she died.

“She made a difference with Royal City Youth Soccer Club. When she started it was floundering,” said Murray, who has rounded up former club members to attend the memorial and speak about her.

“She said every child should have a place to play and that was her philosophy.”

If Monk were alive today she’d be pleased to see the City of New Westminster has a plan to dramatically increase the number of artificial turf fields, said Murray. She wouldn’t be pleased that the field she helped build is often unusable because of poor drainage and maintenance.

It would be nice to have Monk back again. Youth soccer needs her.

“She made something out of nothing. Anne found fields and a way for kids to play. That’s what she was all about.”

mmcquillan@newwestnewsleader.com