Superintendent Steve Wilson has achieved his four major goals for Woolly Hollow State Park in his 39-plus years there, but he still gets emotional when he talks about his retirement.
“Over the past few weeks, I’ve shed so many tears, and I’m about to right now,” he said. “It’ll be hard to leave.”
His last day is Monday.
At 6-4, Wilson is as tall and willowy as some of the trees in the forest at Woolly Hollow State Park. He was just a young whippersnapper, 23, when he started at the park in 1979 as assistant superintendent. He was a year out of Arkansas Tech University in Russellville. He became superintendent five years ago when Mark Roland retired.
Wilson, who grew up in Lonoke, said “there was no rhyme or reason” why he chose to major in parks and recreation, but he can’t imagine a better career.
“I’m an outdoors-type person,” he said, although he prefers the golf links to the lake. He also loves camping.
He sat at his desk, a view of Lake Bennett visible through the window behind him, in the new 2,400-square-foot visitor center. Check off that goal. Open for just six weeks, the building is one of Wilson’s proudest accomplishments.
The former visitor center was a small “shack,” he said. The new $660,000 building, which has an exterior of Arkansas rock, includes offices in the back and a gift shop up front, where all kinds of park and Arkansas memorabilia are for sale — T-shirts, walking sticks, stuffed animals and mugs. It’s also where the park’s awards are on display, including plaques for back-to-back Region 2 Park of the Year honors in 2016 and 2017.
Check that off, too. Being named Park of the Year was another goal of Wilson’s.
The third goal was to build the Enders Fault Mountain Bike Trail.
“The Enders fault is a seismic fault that runs through the park,” he said. A 10-plus-mile mountain-bike trail was built on the fault in 2014.
“It is wildly popular right now,” he said of the sport. “Mountain-biking is the new golf, you could say.”
Also, Wilson pushed for a full-time park interpreter, and that goal was realized about a year ago with the hiring of Margaret Ellis.
Three things needed for a successful park, Wilson said, are “customer service, hospitality and a good product for people to enjoy.”
“Hospitality, I don’t have to force,” he said. “It’s what I am.”
Wilson said he tries to speak or at least wave to every park visitor.
“If I’m in earshot, I’ll speak to them,” he said.
Last year, more than 222,000 people came through the park, and Wilson said he’s seen three generations of families visit.
In the early years, a few people tried to use the park for unsavory activities, but he and then-park Superintendent Mark Roland nipped that in the bud, Wilson said.
“We had our outlaw element that came in. We got rid of that,” Wilson said. “They know we will not tolerate that because we’re a family-friendly park. We’re all about family. If you want to come out here and have a throw-down, don’t bother to come.
“I don’t remember any of the bad things that happened. I’m such an optimistic-type person.”
Park superintendents are certified law enforcement officers, and Wilson has a gun. He’s never used it, “which is a good thing,” he said.
“I’m a social person, and I love the interaction with the park guests, although some were not so good at times,” he said.
Wilson recalled two interactions specifically, both involving naked guests.
“One woman had too much to drink, and she decided she was going to do a strip show for the other people in the park,” he said.
That was about 11 o’clock one night when he was summoned from his home, which is on the grounds.
“We had to throw some coats on her and blankets on her,” he said, laughing.
He also recalled a woman who would jump in her camper every time he drove by on his rounds.
“She was trying to sunbathe nude by her camper. I had to convince her that
wasn’t the thing to do,” he said.
The visitors — clothed ones — are what he will miss most, he said, and many have come by to tell him how much they’ll miss him.
“I have impacted so many people’s lives in a positive way I had no idea about,” he said. “They say I’ve impacted them, and they’ll never forget it. That was the biggest surprise to me of anything. I’ve just been plugging away, trying to give people the opportunity to have a good experience in life. I was just trying to provide a good place out there for recreation and a good working environment, and I guess I have.”
Susan Bowler, office manager, said that’s true for her.
“He’s one of the best bosses I have ever had,” said Bowler, who has worked at the park for eight years. “He’s a lot of fun to work for, and he’s always professional, and his philosophy is if something comes up,
you take care of it right away.”
Sheridan Mansker, desk clerk, agreed that Wilson “makes coming to work fun, for sure; he cracks me up. He never meets a stranger, that’s for sure — never.”
Wilson said his mentors along the way included Mac Balkman of Little Rock, retired operations manager for Arkansas State Parks.
Balkman said he’s known Wilson for decades.
“I have high regards for Steve,” Balkman said.
“Steve, the thing I think I admired about him was the dedication to his job and being willing to get all the training he could to make him a better manager and set himself up for future promotions,” Balkman said. “You could ask him to do anything, and he would do it. He also was a good team leader, and he could put a good staff together.
“He’s going to be a loss to the system; that’s for sure.”
Not only is Wilson leaving the job; he’s having to leave his home, too. He and his wife, Lynn, have lived in the park for 39 years, and that’s where they raised their two daughters, Beth Norwood of Conway and Katie McNew of Wooster. They also took in a young man, Quincy Wardlow, when he was in the ninth grade, and they consider him a son.
“Not only am I retiring away from a job I still love to be in; I’m leaving a place I love to live,” Wilson said.
His wife, Lynn, was a schoolteacher in Greenbrier and Conway. During the summers, Wilson said, she was home, and their daughters “roamed the park,” under the mindful watch of the staff.
His daughters also were both married in the park in outdoor June weddings.
“That’s how much they love it,” he said.
Norwood said she had a wonderful childhood growing up in the park.
“It was pretty amazing,” she said. “Most kids have a backyard or a neighborhood, and we had a whole park to play in. It was super fun. My sister and I probably knew every inch of that park at one point. We had our little secret places we would go that none of the campers knew about.”
She said her family is “heartbroken” that her parents will have to move out of their park home because it is a special place.
Norwood said because they did live in the park, her father’s work really never ended.
“That wasn’t like a negative thing; it was a good thing. The whole family pitched in. At 5 years old, I learned to answer the phone, ‘Woolly Hollow State Park, how may I help you?’ and transfer somebody,” she said.
Norwood described her father as “really kind of a fun guy, kind of goofy, but a really hard worker and dedicated to what he does.”
She is a part-time instructor at Hendrix College, the University of Central Arkansas and Arkansas Tech University.
“I probably get my work ethic from him in a lot of ways. A lot of things I’ve done in terms of civic engagement probably stem from him.”
Norwood said she can’t imagine her father actually being retired.
Although he is leaving, Wilson said the park will be in good hands. Assistant Superintendent Matt Woodard has been hired to fill Wilson’s position.
“I think I was happier than he was. I was happy; he was relieved,” Wilson said. “He’s the perfect person to take over this state park. He loves Woolly Hollow just like I do. ”
Wilson and his wife are building a home in Wooster, so he’ll oversee the day-to-day construction, just like he did the park visitor center.
‘This is a coveted park for people who want to work in a state park,” Wilson said. “That’s why when we get here, we don’t leave.”
And although he is, Wilson said, he’ll be a frequent visitor from now on.
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.