Ron is one of the most precise fellows I have met. Every day, at the same time, Ron leaves work to let his dog out and to check on his mother. I know this because we work in the same building, on the same floor. Ron is quiet and unassuming with a very dry Vermont sense of humor. He has the kind of smarts that excels in certain areas and then is somewhat bewildered when he learns that you don’t know something that is common place to him, like the Latin name for a common Vermont bug Paradiplosis Tumifex or Balsam Gall Midge.

Ron Kelley is a Forest Insect Disease Specialist and has been working for the State of Vermont for nearly 34 years in the Forest, Parks and Recreation Department. He is known as an expert of Christmas tree pests like the Balsam Gall Midge, and well known for his excellent photographs. Google Balsam Gall Midge and guess who’s picture is posted. Ron is planning to retire in the fall of 2009 and is looking forward to it—kind of.

Like a bit of a beetle, he has been in the same office—same corner in fact—ever since. Photos courtesy of Alexandra Garven.

You see, Ron is a native Vermonter and has worked on the land like his father and his grandfather before him. Born up in Derby, he left for a while, got educated in the world of bugs and trees, met and married his wife and returned to raise a family. He also got a job with the state, doing pest control with Forest and Parks. Like a bit of a beetle, he has been in the same office—same corner in fact—ever since.

But if you want to get Ron’s story, “You got to start in the beginning.”

“Dad had vegetables, bees, turkeys… you name it, he had it.” And so Ron grew up in Derby where his father Sterling Kelley had a well know vegetable business and his grandfather had a large dairy operation. Ron hated weeding back then and “wanted to get away from plants and I liked rocks,” so he headed off to the Colorado School of Mines for a degree in Geological Engineering. But, he soon discovered that besides only having four girls in a class of 1200, he wasn’t so fond of the math and it was too much. He took an interest test and found out that he did like natural resources and headed back to the earth and plants. He transferred to Colorado State and earned a degree in Forestry.

His turn back to Vermont came after a quick trip from the Sequoia National Forest where he had a summer job. The Vietnam draft had begun, so down to Los Angeles he went to apply to the Navel program, but was so stressed out with the traffic going into the city, the heat and all the people, that his blood pressure was too high and they wouldn’t take him. That is when he returned to Vermont for his first job with the State and joined the Reserves, 50th Armed Division.

Graduate school followed, then marriage to Sarah Spearing who earned her PhD in Plant Biophysics. The couple moved to Maryland and Ron had a couple other bug jobs with APHIS and the EPA doing pesticide testing. In the mid 70s he was called back to Vermont to take a full-time position with Forest and Parks, a dream job for him.

Ron gets animated when he describes working for the State of Vermont. “You can work outdoors, there is such a variety, something new, problem solving, working with people, sugar makers, other foresters. There is really no other job like it.” If you ask him which he likes better, bugs or trees, that question completely confounds him. It stops him cold in fact.

“You can’t pick which on you like more, they are connected. They go together.”

That is the thing about Ron. He sees the interconnectedness of the forest. He can not place value on one thing over the other. He sees the forest as both trees and bugs.

He can tell you which bug he does not care for though. It is the deer fly. “Like nuisance people, deer flies are a nuisance.” Given that, he did say that he liked the swallow tailed butterfly.

But things have changed a bit. Less freedom, more constraints and multi-tasking. Fewer personal and fewer resources. Ron has had to turn in his Forestry truck and has been cleaning out his office. He feels like he is being forced into retirement, before he is ready to go. Most likely his position will not be filled when he departs, leaving him with a feeling that perhaps a lifetime of work not being continued. Perhaps leaving him with a feeling of loss with the connection that the State had to the value of his work.

Ron is not too worried about retiring soon with the financial world a mess. Much like Ron’s steady personality, he sees the state as being level headed with his retirement investments.

On the flip side, Ron is looking forward to kayaking, canoeing, fishing, taking pictures and his garden. Like his dad, he has all sorts of products. Five kinds of raspberry bushes, seven kinds of blueberries, apple trees and vegetables. You name, he has it.

Alexandra Garven lives in Morristown.