JANESVILLE Janesville lore has it that if you were walking down the sidewalk in the late 1980s and saw Bob Yahr approaching, it was time to move to the other side of the street.
Dr. Robert Yahr at Rotary Botanical Gardens in Janesville.
Courtesy Rotary Botanical Gardens
Thats because it was a sure bet the long-time local orthodontist was about to ask for your help at his fledgling Rotary Botanical Gardens, either with a donation or with a request that you volunteer there.
And you knew hed talk you into it.
It was hard to turn down Dr. Robert Yahr, the original visionary and founder of what today has grown into the 20-acre, internationally known Rotary Botanical Gardens, nestled next to Lions Beach on Palmer Drive in the heart of the Janesvilles 164-acre Palmer Park.
In 1988, the original site between Lions Beach and Kiwanis Pond sat as an abandoned sand and gravel quarry, filled with debris and used as a storage site and BMX racetrack, Rotary Gardens shares on its website.
At the time, the Janesville Kiwanis Club was aiming to convert the site two small ponds connected by a narrow strip of land into a fishing and wildlife area.
Yarh saw something much more expansive, and he began working on realizing that broader vision. It happened fast. Construction on the first garden, the original Japanese Garden, would begin in 1989.
Dr. Yahr approached two Janesville Rotary Clubs with a dream: to transform the dilapidated site into an internationally themed botanical garden. With encouraging community support and a strong cooperative effort of volunteers and skilled tradespeople, the ambitious project took root, Rotary Gardens website continues.
Only a few of the people who took on early key roles alongside Yahr in the founding of Rotary Botanical Gardens remain to share their reminisces.
Dr. Robert Yahr at Rotary Botanical Gardens in Janesville.
Courtesy Rotary Botanical Gardens
One of them is Maury Frey, who until a few months ago continued to volunteer as a member of the Grumpies, a group of retired community members who take on projects to help keep up the Gardens.
The story is that the group of volunteers got its name when things were not done the right way as prescribed by them.
In 1988, the year Rotary Gardens was founded, Frey was director of facilities at the Janesville General Motors plant.
Bob called me and said he needed volunteers. I told him Id get fired if I started sending GM employees over there to work at the Gardens, Frey recalls.
He persisted
He persisted. So, when GM started the Jobs Bank Program for laid off workers, I was able to send him some volunteers, Frey said.
He just never gave up once he started something.
Yahr later convinced Frey to take on the role of volunteer project manager when a new visitor center at the Gardens was being planned.
I told Bob there was not enough money for a project like that, Frey recalls. But he just would not say no. Somehow, he got the funding, and the building was built.
I volunteered to work one year, Frey recalls, and ended up putting in 25 years. Like I said, you just could not say no to Bob.
Another Grumpie, Gary Smith, is the retired president of United Way in Janesville and a periodic interim executive director at Rotary Gardens over the years, as permanent leadership has come and gone.
The Holiday Light Show at Rotary Botanical Gardens in Janesville.
69蹤獲 file photo
As interim executive director, he oversaw management of the Gardens, including supervision of the staff. He also served twice a president of the nonprofit Rotary Botanical Gardens board of directors
There was no pecking order when it came to working at the Gardens, Smith recalls. Any day you might see Rollie McClellan (a prominent banker in Janesville who retired at Valley Bank after starting his banking career in Janesville at the Merchants and Saving Bank) working along-side GM workers, postal workers, lawyers, auto repair mechanics and teachers.
Working alongside that cross-section of Janesville residents, digging in the dirt, was the Gardens founder, Bob Yahr.
Bob put his heart and soul into this project, Smith recalls. He would be at large corporate board meetings working the money tree one day, and the next day he was out planting and splitting daylilies with the rest of us.
As Yahrs vision grew, the Gardens first horticulturist, Mark Dwyer, was hired.
I started at Rotary Botanical Gardens in July of 1998 and met Dr. Robert Yahr immediately, Dwyer said. He was one of the first to introduced himself, and after our initial greeting he pulled me aside and said Hey, Ive got a couple ideas for you to consider.
Well, that started our 23-year year friendship, and he never ran out of ideas, Dwyer said. It wasnt hard to see his passion for the Gardens, and he likely was one of the few who never wavered in his vision for a successful Gardens for the community and visitors to Janesville.
Without Dr. Yahrs persistence in getting those early buy-ins, the garden would never have started, Dwyer said.
Grumpies volunteers work on a project at Rotary Botanical Gardens in Janesville.
69蹤獲 file photo
In addition to his tenacity and passion for the public Gardens, Yahr was an avid gardener at home with his wife of 69 years, Nancy. Sometimes he would bring his home gardening skills to the Gardens.
I remember him renting a sickle bar mower and running that all over an overgrown area for days, to clear space for what would become our future Woodland Walk Garden, Dwyer said.
Soon, visitors to the Gardens began sharing that they had traveled to other botanical gardens across the U.S., and that Janesvilles Rotary Botanical Gardens was the best, Smith said.
Rotary Botanical Gardens now welcomes visitors from around the world and has won countless awards.
In fact, Dwyer said, Janesville was asked not to enter one prestigious contest again because it had taken first place so many times.
Parker Pen arch
There is history embedded in Rotary Botanical Gardens. A popular space for photographs is at the Parker Pen arch.
The original arch was from the main entrance of the Parker Pen Company's headquarters in Janesville, built in 1919.
The arch was reconstructed and moved to Rotary Botanical Gardens in 1992.
Holiday Light Show
Dr. Robert Yahrs vision has grown into what even he may not have expected. Today, Rotary Botanical Gardens remains about flowers but also about more than 2 million lights strung every holiday season for the annual Holiday Light Show.
Our Holiday Light Show is now nationally recognized, Smith said.
It started out as a small display where volunteers would go around replacing the old-fashioned lights, Smith said. If one string of lights failed you had to trace it down until you found the bad bulb.
Flowers bloom at Rotary Botanical Gardens in Janesville.
69蹤獲 file photo
That has now grown into a spectacular show, Smith said, adding that most, if not all, of the lights are now LED which are much easier to maintain, thanks to cooperation from Alliant.
In the Holiday Light Shows early years, Smith said it was deemed a success if 20,000 people showed up in a season.
We are now seeing attendance at around 50,000, Smith said. Its our main fundraiser.
Frey said volunteers and local businesses have been long-standing participants and supporters of the Holiday Light Show and the Gardens in general.
Chris Ranum and LP Tree Service, for example, volunteered early on to put up lights in the many tall trees at the garden, Frey said. Chris has passed away, but his company continues his volunteer spirit.
John James, a local archer, shoots strings of lights in higher places where LP Tree cant reach with their elevated buckets, Frey said. Its amazing how the spirit of Bobs tenacity and recruiting volunteers continues to this day.
Dr. Robert Yahr was a longtime orthodontist in Janesville. He is remembered by most, however, as the founder of Rotary Botanical Gardens.
His visionary and determined spirit transformed a dumping ground into an absolutely beautiful 20-acre garden, one that is good enough to show the world, shared his obituary, published in The 69蹤獲 in 2021.
Dr. Robert George Yahr was born Aug. 2, 1928, in West Bend, Wis., the son of Raymond F. and Marie (Pfeiffer) Yahr. He graduated from West Bend High School in 1946 and went on to attend Texas Western College, and then to graduate with honors from Lawrence College in Appleton. He later earned a degree in orthodontics from Northwestern University.
Early scenes of Rotary Botanical Gardens after it was founded in Janesville.
69蹤獲 file photo
He and his wife, Nancy, were married in 1953 and moved to Janesville in 1956, where they would go on to raise their four children.
Rotary Gardens wasnt the only way Yahr gave back. He also served as president of the Rock County Dental Society and president of the Wisconsin Orthodontic Society. He was a member of the Janesville Chamber of Commerce board and was on the city of Janesvilles Beautification Committee and the Janesville Country Club board of directors.
Scenes from Rotary Botanical Gardens in Janesville.
69蹤獲 file photo
In 2010, Forward Janesville awarded Dr. Robert Yahr its Lifetime Achievement Award for his work on behalf of Rotary Botanical Gardens.
He lived to see his vision grow to full reality before passing away March 2, 2021, at the age of 92.
Dr. Robert Yahr at Rotary Botanical Gardens in Janesville.
69蹤獲 file photo
Flowers bloom at Rotary Botanical Gardens in Janesville.
69蹤獲 file photo
Dr. Robert Yahr at Rotary Botanical Gardens in Janesville.
