On May 31st, ASK held the Annual Member Meeting; the day began with a bird walk. Following the walk, more than 40 people gathered to honor Ilse Gebhard and Russ Schipper for their many years of service to ASK. Laura Crocker, Shana Ramsey, Nate Fuller, and Donna Keller shared tributes. A plaque was placed at the base of a beautiful Bur Oak tree that will serve as a reminder for many years to come of the countless ways that Ilse and Russ have contributed to our organization.
ASK President Donna Keller, shared the following tribute:
“Thank you all for being here to honor Ilse Gebhard and Russ Schipper, without whom Audubon Society of Kalamazoo would not be the vital organization that it is today. To fully grasp the impact these two have had on the organization, you need to go all the way back to the late 1980s. It was in 1989 that Ilse was asked and agreed to fill the role of Vice President in charge of programming. Little did she know then that she would remain on the board for 35 years, two as VP, 4 as a board member, and 29 as treasurer. Of course, she also took on membership chairperson duties for many of those years as well.
Ilse and Russ saw the organization through a difficult time in the late 1980s when the Nature Film Series was discontinued due to declining attendance, and the memberships that came automatically with the purchase of a season ticket dropped precipitously. Starting in 1995, they took on leadership roles and were able to turn around the decline and institute many new initiatives. Under their leadership, ASK membership more than doubled and has been stable ever since. Data-driven Ilse calculated renewal rates annually and found that they generally came in at 90%. I’d call that a vote of confidence in the leadership provided by Ilse and Russ.
Russ has filled many roles within the organization. In addition to his nine years on the board, eight of those as president, he was a field trip leader from 1990 to 2013, leading roughly three-quarters of the outings each of those years. His first trip was an owling trip at 4:30 in the morning to which 25 people showed up! Clearly members were hungry for field trips!
This year Russ participated in his 37 th Kalamazoo Christmas Bird Count, 35 of those as compiler. Additionally, he compiled the Kalamazoo North American Migration Count from 1992-2016. He also formed the Grants Committee, still active today, to give deserving organizations money with which to benefits birds and nature.
Both Ilse and Russ have done so much to educate our community’s young people about nature, especially birds and butterflies. Upon the unexpected receipt of a large donation to ASK a decade or so ago, Ilse painstakingly reached out to all area public schools to inform them of a new Education Grant fund and coordinated the receipt of grant
applications. As treasurer, she also handled the distribution of funds. This was nearly a full-time job.
Speaking of full-time jobs, for 23 years, Russ has been visiting area classrooms, sharing his knowledge of and passion for birds. Imagine this: Russ has visited more than 1200 classrooms, reaching an estimated 30,000 students! And that doesn’t include the 25 classrooms that he has assisted with owl pellet dissections! Additionally, he coordinated the Audubon Adventures program for classrooms over the years until National Audubon cut the program back.
We would be here all day if I listed every way in which Ilse and Russ have contributed to ASK. Instead, let’s look to the tree: Russ and Ilse, we dedicate this beautiful Bur Oak in honor of the many ways you have benefitted ASK and the larger community. Like the keystones you have been for ASK, this oak will, we hope, benefit the natural community here at Wolf Lake Fish Hatchery for years to come.”
Photo courtesy of Jim Ratliff