Here is the official version of the inception of the Recreation and Park District.

History and Organization
The formation of the Recreation District for the Truckee area was fostered in the mind of Mr. Cecil Edmunds (deceased), in the year 1956. Mr. Edmunds presented his recommendations to the Honorable R.E. Smart, President and member of the Board of Trustees, Tahoe-Truckee Unified School District. The request was made by the Board of Trustees to the Recreation Commission, State of California, for assistance in making a feasibility study. This study was to be made of the area encompassed by the school district boundaries. The recommendation was made for the establishment of a community recreational program with financial support and administration by the Unified School District. An appointment of a year-round part-time recreation director, and later, formation of the Recreation and Park District. No formal action for the formation of a District was initiated by Tahoe-Truckee Unified School District Board of Trustees as they were in the process of building new schools and were not in a position to administer a community recreation program.
Mr. Edmunds, General Manager of the Truckee Public Utility District, and several Board members who were interested in recreation for the community, planned and built a golf course on Utility District land, under the Recreation statute of the Public Utility Act. But with recreation not being the Utility District's main purpose, or obligation to its constituents, and finding themselves in financial trouble, the golf course was sold to private parties and is now known as Ponderosa Golf Course.
 In the meantime, Mr. Edmunds had approached the Truckee-Donner Chamber of Commerce about forming a recreation district. A committee was formed to investigate the needs and economic feasibility of forming a recreation district. After several months of gathering information, this committee approached the State Recreation department for advice. Mr. Everett Gale, Recreation Specialist for the state, was assigned to assist the Truckee committee. After 18 months of compiling and sifting through information, it was decided that a recreation park district was needed, and was economically feasible. Town Hall meetings were held to present the facts to the public, petitions were circulated and an election was held in March of 1962. A total vote of 329 was cast with 211 yes, 118 no to form this district. The Truckee-Donner Recreation and Park District was formed on the 23rd day of April in the year Nineteen Hundred and Sixty-Two.
The first Board members elected to the District were: Charles Osburn, William Curran, Dave Morey, Dr. H.P. Tapia and Hap Savage. The District was formed too late in the fiscal year to be included on the 1962-63 tax roll, so the board members personally financed the district's first year's expenses.