March 1, 2007

Bill Felker

By Virgil Hervey

Just about everybody in Yellow Springs knows Bill Felker from “Yellow Springs Almanack,” his regular column in the News that’s also carried on WYSO. But according to Felker, who describes himself as a recluse, he hardly knows anybody in town. Next Thursday, March 8, Felker will put his reclusive impulses aside and step into the spotlight to raise funds for the Antioch School.

Felker’s fund-raising talk, “Spring Fever,” will take place at 7 p.m. March 8, at the Glen Helen Building. Proceeds from the event will benefit the school’s building renovation program.

His connections to the school motivated him to step out of his comfort zone, Felker said in a recent interview. His wife, Jeanie, retired from the school’s faculty last June after 20 years of teaching kindergarten and their youngest daughter, Neysa, attended there. So when Caroline Mullin called on his talents as a naturalist for a benefit presentation, he said yes.

The program will benefit the school’s renovation project. Some systems in school’s old building are exceeding their lifespan, Development Committee Chair Mullin told the News in December. The first phase of what is envisioned as a long-term, three-phase project involves double pane replacement windows for the current single pane glass, along with upgrading heating, electric, and lighting systems. The building also needs painting, flooring, ceilings, and a new kindergarten sink, she said at that time.

“We already have 75 percent of the funds for this summer’s renovations,” Mullin said in a recent interview. It is hoped that money raised by Felker’s benefit event and the publicity for the project that comes out of it will help push the effort over the top.

Felker, who grew up in Wisconsin, comes from a long line of teachers and has himself taught at a number of colleges. He retired from teaching Spanish at Central State, only to start teaching English at Southern State Community College and Capital University’s Dayton Campus, because he missed teaching, he said.

Felker has lived in Yellow Springs for 28 years. His almanacking grew from his habit of taking notes on his walks and keeping records of the weather and “what was happening when,” he said.

According to Felker, it all began when his wife gave him a barometer and he started charting the “breathing of the earth.”

“From watching the weather, it was an easy step to watching wildflowers,” he said.

Eventually Felker’s academic bent combined with his love of nature and in the mid-80s he turned his attention to phenology, the study of the times of recurring natural phenomena. He has saved 15 years worth of comments for each day, he said, enabling him to compile such information as average bloom dates.

The result of his efforts is “Poor Will’s Almanack,” a phenological almanac that Felker has published in one form or another since 1984. It is currently available in tabloid format, and the Yellow Springs version appears weekly in the News. He also has a Web site: www.poorwillsalmanack.com.

Along the way, Felker also developed an interest in chronobiology, the field of science that examines cyclic phenomena or biological rhythms in living organisms. His “Spring Fever” presentation will combine the two studies.

For Felker, nature is full of clues as to what is going to happen next. The crocus rears its head and we know that spring is not far behind. We also know that the increase in the amount of daylight is going to affect how we feel — we’ll feel better.

To augment his presentation, which will focus on the months of March, April, and May, Felker plans to play clips of his radio show, while showing slides of those clues, mostly taken on his walks in the woods. When he mentions the name of a flower, he wants the audience to be able to see exactly what it is that he is talking about, he said.

Tickets for “An Evening With Bill Felker” will be available at the door for $10. More information may be had at 767-1641.

Contact: vhervey@ysnews.com