Becky Gillette – This year marks the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, and Holiday Island resident Dan Wilson, 83, was a part of NPS more than a third of that time working as a landscape architect at 50 national parks during his 32-year career. Following his “retirement” he continues to consult.
In 1958 Wilson, an Army veteran, graduated from Michigan State University as a landscape architect and was hired by the NPS Midwest Regional Office in Omaha.
“I did design and construction work in cooperation with the Bureau of Reclamation, including irrigation projects involving small dams in Kansas, Nebraska, North and South Dakota. Then I was transferred to the Denver Service Center.”
Many people, when they think of a NPS employee, see a park ranger or naturalist in a uniform. Wilson never wore a uniform, and worked behind the scenes in the design and construction office that included engineers, archeologists and geologists. His primary role was supervising contractors and doing contract management for work on the national parks, including Yosemite, Yellowstone, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Timpanogos Cave, Grand Teton, Big Bend, Death Valley, Hot Springs and Mesa Verde.
Wilson worked in 22 states and Washington D.C., and appreciated continually learning about different geological formations, climate and indigenous plants.
His favorite assignment? “I often get asked that question and it is difficult to answer,” Wilson said. “Every park and every area is unique in its own right. I was assigned to Boulder City, Nevada, near the Lake Mead National Recreational Area, and then we moved to Wisconsin working on the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway. Later I worked on the Buffalo National River in the Ozarks. They were all so totally different. Pea Ridge, which is the last national park where I worked, is also unique. We transferred here from Yellowstone in 1989 after the big fire, knowing we would retire here in Arkansas.”
One highlight for him as a veteran who served in Germany at the start of the Cold War, was working on the POW-MIA museum in Andersonville, Ga.
Wilson’s wife of 60 years, Grace, often visited him on his assignments, and was delighted to see how much he loved his job. “It’s nice to have a job you don’t dread,” she said. “Dan always enjoyed going to work.”
Throughout the years the NPS has been challenged by budget cutbacks, even though private and government funding helped create projects, for instance the Andersonville Museum funded by NPS and POW-MIA organizations.
Wilson made many friends through his years with the NPS, and even after retiring 26 years ago, he came back to help out with projects.
“They called me back to do some construction supervision work at Pea Ridge when they remodeled the Visitors’ Center,” Wilson said. “I was called to do some work at Ft. Smith National Historic Site, and on the Bathhouse Row area of the Hot Springs National Park. Then I did some roadwork at Arkansas Post National Memorial in Southeast Arkansas. It’s a beauty, right on the Mississippi and Arkansas Rivers.”
After retiring, he worked doing planning coordination for Holiday Island and the 12th hole pond, served on the Eureka Springs Tree City Committee, and did quality control for construction of the Carroll County Detention Center.
He is a member of the American Legion Post # 9 where he was instrumental in the planning and construction of the Veteran’s Memorial at Hwys. 187 and 23. He has also been active in a Masonic Lodge.
He is particularly proud of the work he did for the Holiday Island Presbyterian Church established on Stateline and Valley Drives.
“I helped site the building and later I worked on planning the expansion and landscaping,” he said.
Wilson enjoys history, particularly the Civil War history of this area where there were so many families split between supporting the Union or the Confederacy. He recently gave a talk on that to the Civil War Club at Holiday Island.
The Wilsons encourage people to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the NPS by visiting a National Park this year.