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The Greenburgh Nature Center, more than birds, bees, nature trails --a place people meet
Release Date: May 06, 2019

3 STORIES OF COUPLES WHO MET AT THE NATURE CENTER--CLOSEST THING TO HEAVEN OFF OF CENTRAL AVE-- a place that is magical

Do you know of others???

 

Last week I attended a retirement party for John Mancuso who is retiring from the Greenburgh Nature Center after 32 years of service. John developed many of the Greenburgh Nature Center's educational programs and improved programs on a regular basis. He did an amazing job, was very dedicated and hard working  and will be missed.

 

At the retirement dinner his wife, Renee, mentioned that she met John at the Greenburgh Nature Center on a school trip about 27 years ago. She was taken with him at the school trip and then went back to the center the next day and the rest is history. They got married and as you will note from the attached photo- are very happy together with terrific children.

 

I followed up Renee's comments about how she met her husband by asking those gathered at the retirement event  if anyone else met their husband or wife at the nature center. A hand went up. And, when I mentioned to others  how pleased I was at the role the nature center played in changing lives for the better -another couple told me that they met there. Here are two other stories. Know of others....e mail me at pfeiner@greenburghny.com.

 

The story of Monika Kerschus Granholm and Carl --- it began with a dare...(this is what Monika said)….

It all began with a dare…

A little background…Carl came back from working in Germany in 1979, and started volunteering at the Greenburgh Nature Center – I was away at college.  We met over summer vacation, but really didn’t get to know each other until after I graduated in 1983.

As I grew up on the property, and had been a volunteer since the nature centers’ inception (1975), we worked on many events together, and started to become friends.

The naturalists at the time (Dean Fausel & Chris Ackerman) hung out with Carl, and Chris basically dared him to ask me out.  I assume that they didn’t think it would work, and that it was a joke.

Carl & I started going out in February 1984…although it took a while before we got married (November 1991).  Our son was born in 1995.

Still together…still busy with environmental causes and politics. 

Greg Wechgelaer says that the Greenburgh Nature Center is for lovers! He met Jennifer here

 

In September 2016, GNC Naturalist Greg Wechgelaer and former Naturalist Jennifer Sloan got married.  Their story began in January 2008, when Jennifer interviewed Greg for an internship position.   Greg got the job and they became colleagues and fast friends.  

 

Over the next year working together, they learned that their passion for wildlife, environmentalism, and teaching young people were hardly their only commonalities.  They leaned on each other through tough times, and shared joyful experiences hiking together and attending concerts.  Their friendship deepened into love, and soon thereafter Jennifer left her job at the Nature Center so a full time position would open and Greg’s career as a Naturalist could be fully realized. When her new career venture initially stalled, Greg supported her while she took a leap into the field of agriculture, and carried her through to future successes.  Now Jennifer is the Education Director at a floating farm, the Science Barge, a project of Groundwork Hudson Valley.

 

After nearly six years together, Greg called Jennifer into the Discovery Room of the Nature Center. She was expecting to help Greg with an escapee ferret, but instead he surprised Jenn with a carefully constructed scene: two doves perched on the mantle, Elvis the iguana bearing witness, Bigfoot, the 60 year tortoise carrying an engagement ring on her back, and Greg on one knee.  Behind him, the first words he ever communicated to her in his job application – “Dear Miss Sloan” – was printed on a banner declaration, followed by the words “Will You Marry Me.” After the initial surprise and a hearty laugh, Jennifer exclaimed “YES!” and they embraced. Meanwhile, the tortoise, ring still in tow, wandered off and knocked over the fireplace screen, scaring the two doves into flight over their heads.  Greg rescued the ring from Bigfoot, placed it on her finger, and they were officially engaged.

 

The Greenburgh Nature Center's is located on Dromore Road. If you love nature, enjoy animals, like to hike, want to educate yourself about the environment and meet great people you should visit this incredible place.  May you and your family be blessed with the same happiness that many other visitors and employees of the nature center have experienced.  

 

PAULFEINER

Their website is:

 

https://greenburghnaturecenter.org/

 

Greenburgh Nature Center – Explore, Discover, Connect

greenburghnaturecenter.org

The Greenburgh Nature Center joins the Town of Greenburgh in mourning the loss of Kevin Morgan, our town board liaison who supported our mission and community efforts. About the Greenburgh Nature Center The Greenburgh Nature Center is a non-profit nature preserve set on 33 beautiful acres in the heart of lower Westchester County.  We offer…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 




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