By MARC ALLEN | For The Democrat
BELMONT — Lori Willis loved to garden when she was a girl and thought she might make it her profession. But her mother warned repeatedly, “You’re never going to make any money at this.”
So, Lori pursued an associate’s degree in early childhood development, worked office jobs, and gardened for fun.
Then, about 15 years ago, her older daughter, Kayleigh, took a summer job at Designscape Horticultural Services, just down the hill from the T.C. Steele State Historic Site. Kayleigh came home one day and said, “Mom, you’d just love this.” She encouraged her to apply for a job.
Lori did. And she loved it.
“Once they had me, I thought they’d have me forever,” she says. “I never thought I would go anywhere else.”
But last December, the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites came calling. John Spicklemire, vice president of system facilities and restoration, offered her the opportunity to be master gardener at T.C. Steele and oversee or have a hand in the grounds at Lanier Mansion, Corydon Capitol, Culbertson Mansion and New Harmony.
“I don’t make a whole lot of money,” Willis says, “but I also don’t spend my money on antidepressants or alcohol or drugs. So, in turn, man, I am living a really good life. If you really are doing what you truly love to do, it somehow works out, I guess.”
On a mid-spring day at T.C. Steele State Historic Site, the purple redbuds are blooming, the red flowering quince has started to bear fruit, the daffodils and narcissus are in their glory and the peonies are showing signs of life. There’s also a poplar tree that uprooted and needs to be chopped down, honeysuckle moving in on the wisteria, a water pump that must be fixed and a storage barn to clean out.
And Laura Willis-Riggen — that’s her full name — is in her element.
“I love a challenge,” she says, the knees of her jeans covered in mud. “I love a beautiful mess. It’s about people enjoying it. I love when people come through here and they’re just so happy.”
At Designscape, she was a nursery and landscape account manager and didn’t work outside as much as she likes. And while that was fine, she prefers to be a gardener.
Gardeners, she says, allow nature to take its course, stepping in when they must. Landscapers remove a lot of organic material because everything must look perfect immediately.
Gardeners compost. Landscapers get rid of organic material and replace it with leaves and dirt that has already been composted.
Gardeners plant seeds. Landscapers plant plants.
“It’s a little more disposable as a landscaper,” Willis says. “Instead of figuring out why something is ailing a plant and giving it time and giving it nutrients, a landscaper is like, ‘Get it out.’”
Now that she’s in charge, “We’re going to use what we have here and not add compost that has already decomposed. We’re going to be creating that here.”
She will do her best, she says, to adhere to the plans that Selma Steele, T.C. Steele’s second wife, designed for the property while preparing the land for future generations.
Gardening “is really rooted in me,” Willis says with a smile.
She grew up one of seven children in Greenwood, with a mom who was an avid gardener and a great aunt named Dorothy who took an interest in her. “When you’re one of seven, to get anybody’s attention is really wonderful.”
Dorothy would let young Lori run through her peonies and discover and play in her yard and her garden. Dorothy never drove, so the garage served as her potting shed. At an early age, Lori was already pushing a wheelbarrow.
Years later, after her parents retired to Brown County, Lori moved south too. She lived in a beautiful woodland, chalet-style home on Greasy Creek for 25 years while she raised Kayleigh, now 34; Jacob, 26; and Gracie, 17 (and still at home). She was a member of the Brown County Garden Club and volunteered with Habitat for Humanity. She earned her Master Gardener degree from Purdue University in 2000.
Then came the Designscape job. Last year, when ISMHS hired Designscape to do some work at T.C. Steele, Willis’ boss asked her if she wanted to work at the site.
“I came out and right away loved it,” she says. “I felt close to the property right away.”
Asked why he hired Willis, Spicklemire said: “Over 30 years of gardening experience, third-generation Master Gardener, highly motivated and great communication skills.”
Willis and her husband, Joe, a carpenter for a homebuilder, live in Jackson County, about a 45-minute drive from most of the historic sites she covers. When she’s not working, she likes to cook big meals — pork roast, sauerkraut and mashed potatoes is a favorite. She makes bread. Grows cabbage, kale, greens, asparagus, rhubarb. Cans food. Raises chickens.
They hunt and process the venison. On the day of this interview, she brought her lunch to work — deer tidbits: cubed deer meat wrapped in bacon and cooked in a crockpot with zesty Italian dressing, salt and pepper and beef broth.
She and Joe like to walk and talk and be outdoors. She likes spending time with the one grandchild she has now and looks forward to the two who were on the way.
These days, her mom lives in Florida. Periodically, Lori sends her pictures of the flowers and plants from the historic sites. She doesn’t remind her mom about supposedly never making any money at it.
“There’s no reason to,” she says. “But every now and then, she does say, ‘I’m very proud of you.’ So clearly that’s her way of saying, ‘Life is good, Lori.’”
