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Sarsfields Receive ASICs Sam Tobey "Lifetime Achievement" Award For Wanda Sarsfield, the Honor is Posthumous09-01-03 | News
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The American Society of Irrigation Consultants (ASIC) presented a "Lifetime Achievement" award to Wanda and Chet Sarsfield at its 2003 conference in Asheville, N.C. The award's timing was posthumous for Wanda, who had recently passed away; for Chet Sarsfield, it was an award in absentia, as he was not able to attend due to his wife's passing. ASIC member Joe DePiano delivered the award to Mr. Sarsfield, along with a beautiful glass sculpture engraved "In Memory of Wanda Sarsfield from her ASIC Family." In 1965, Chet Sarsfield, already a veteran of 16 years in the irrigation business as a contractor, a sales engineer and a marketing executive, launched, with Wanda, Irrigation Technical Services (ITS) to fill the need for independent and unbiased training material. Together they produced and published texts and reference manuals, including The ABCs of Lawn Sprinkler Systems, and the Irrigation Technical Manual, which are still in use today. The Sarsfields have been active in industry associations. Their first involvement was with the forerunner of the Irrigation Association (IA), the Sprinkler Irrigation Association. Wanda worked on a number of its projects, including the ladies' hospitality programs; Chet served on the board of directors, was a charter member of the certification board of governors for a six-year term, and wrote the original landscape section published by the IA. He also formed the IA's landscape irrigation committee, which he chaired for six years, and was the recipient of the IA's 1981 "National Water and Energy Conservation" award. The Sarsfields also served other industry associations: Chet with the California Landscape Contractors Association; Wanda with the CLCA Women's Auxiliary. Wanda served for several years as executive secretary of the Northern California Turfgrass Council, and Chet was the publicity chair and newsletter publisher. The Sarsfields also supervised for a number of years the Northern California Turfgrass Exposition, Northern California's largest industry trade show. In 1970, the Sarsfields, in conjunction with Roy Williams, formed the American Society of Irrigation Consultants (ASIC). Wanda Sarsfield became the ASIC executive secretary, a position she held for most of the society's developmental years. Chet Sarsfield was named an honorary member for establishing the foundation, and later recognized as a Fellow (FASIC). The Sarsfields worked together through the years to bring ASIC to its current professional level; it was only recently that the board of directors engaged a professional publicity and management firm. Mr. Sarsfield continues to operate Irrigation Technical Services and also Travel Finders, a full service travel agency that the couple began in 1991 to serve the travel and conference needs of the irrigation and landscape industries.
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