In three months, Evie Kirkwood will bid goodbye to a job that has spanned almost all of her career — in one form or another — at the St. Joseph County Parks.

She’s become the face of the parks, with the “Outdoor Elements” show about local nature and conservation that she’s hosted on WNIT television for 17 years now, plus the “Nature Notes” column that had run in The Tribune for 15 years. She’d climbed through a range of roles in the parks until, for the past 16 years, she served as its director, overseeing a budget that reached $1.97 million last year, mostly fed by property taxes, for 1,300 acres of park land.

But, at 62, she has a husband who recently retired. And they have a new camper that they’re itching to take traveling.

She called the parks board members about six months ago to inform them. She will retire May 1.

Evie Kirkwoods Full Story

 Article and Photo: The South Bend Tribune, Joseph Dits on February 5, 2020.