Bill's Big Day

A pile of T-shirts from fires over the years lay on the bed yesterday.

I don't know if they're going back to the Idaho Dept. of Lands or staying.

I don't know if any of that fire stuff, the yellow shirts, the pack, etc. is leaving the Lovestead or staying.

What I do know, though, is that a bunch of boxes filled with personal items is coming home today from a Dept. of Lands office.

A good man and a dedicated forester is retiring today.

Bill has served the Department of Lands for 33 years.

He started his career in the IDL Bonners Ferry office. It was 1978, the year our Annie was born.

That office building, along HWY 95 as you come into Bonners, stood prominently on its site next to a plot of young trees.

These days, those trees tower over the office, offering plenty of shade.

After a period of making the daily drive to Bonners Ferry, Bill enjoyed a break from time spent on the road going to and from work.

He transferred to Sandpoint where he served as woodland forester.

Then, came a promotion:  bureau chief for private forestry in Coeur d'Alene.  With this responsibility came the daily 100-mile round trip to work and much time (sometimes three weeks each month) traveling around the state of Idaho.

Over the next 13 years or so, Bill learned to hate that stretch of HWY 95, often leaving the house at 5:45 a.m., and returning as late as 7-8 p.m. some evenings.

So, when the woodland forester position came open in Sandpoint, Bill gladly took a pay cut and applied for his old job.

He was relieved, to say the least, to leave the Sandpoint-CDA drive behind, and he settled in to thoroughly enjoying his job of serving local landowners and their trees.

This past year or so, he completed the full circle, taking on two days a week back in Bonners Ferry, working out of the office next to those tall trees. 

During his career, Bill helped start the Idaho State Forestry Contest, held every year at Ray and Fairy Delay's beautiful property at Careywood. 

I think that contest has been going for nearly 30 years now, and I know it inspires great enthusiasm from its participants, representing schools all over North Idaho. 

I don't know a lot of the specific details of Bill's career, except that it has involved working with loggers, enforcing the Idaho Forest Practices Act, working with landowners with tree farms, working with agencies associated in a myriad of ways with our forests, and even serving as a chauffeur and guide for Betty Munis, head of the Idaho Forest Products Commission. 

For several years,  when Betty and her staff would plan their legislative/corporate tour of places associated with forest products, Bill would joke about his job of "driving Miss Betty."  

Another thing I know about my husband and his career is that I've met hundreds of people over the years who know Bill because "he helped us with our forest plan." 

Without fail, words of praise for the good man he is,  the help he provided them and his professionalism have come spontaneously flowing from their lips. 

I can remember almost 38 years ago,  that summer when we first met,  that we would often go for hikes or drives through the back country.

The Southern-trained forester would constantly quiz me, "What kind of tree is that?"

I think I answered correctly most of the time, and hopefully my limited knowledge served him well as he made the transition from Southern forester to Northern man of the trees.

Bill has retained one aspect of his Southern forestry roots.

He's known as Loblolly Love among geocachers, and that refers to a Southern species of pine tree.

Well, Loblolly, from this English teacher wife of yours, "you done good" as a valued employee of the Idaho Dept. of Lands.

Your family is very proud of you.  

We're also looking forward to the upcoming years, beginning today,  when Loblolly Love leaves the IDL, comes home to the Lovestead full time to tend to his own trees and sets off for many geocaching adventures ahead.

Happy Retirement, Bill!