From our 2009 Fall Newsletter
July 2009–We lost a good friend in Bob Siera in September. Bob died after a battle with bone cancer. But not before touching the lives of so many people—especially area youth—and helping us at our DeYoung Natural Area in a hundred different ways. He was the best of neighbors and long before we acquired the property, kept an eye on it and cared for it. He and his wife, Meeghan, own nearby Leelanau Produce.
Bob was endlessly generous with his time and expertise. He helped our Stewardship Director, Jenée Rowe, with emergency stabilization of the old farmstead after we bought the property. “Even if he didn’t know how to fix something, he always found a way,” says Jenee. “He was so similar to Louis DeYoung in that way. Bob’s ability to take old stuff to reuse it, showed his amazing ingenuity and resourcefulness.”
In an online guestbook, one of our past summer interns, Peter Povolo, made the following entry. Peter’s sentiments pretty well sum up how we all felt about Bob: “I worked for two summers as a stewardship intern with the Leelanau Conservancy spending a great deal of time at the DeYoung Farm adjacent to Bob’s. While there Bob was always stopping by to say hi, offering a helping hand, or even bringing our crews treats with a smile. If I ever had an issue and needed some help, I would find Bob who always had a productive solution. Bob always provided great insight into the work we were doing and practical advice. He always had great stories and shared his lessons learned through his life. Although I was never a former student, Bob never stopped teaching and I thank him for that.”
