“It’s the people,” Gail Browning said. That’s the reason why she’s been a friend of the Arboretum for more than 30 years.
When Gail and her family relocated to the area in 1993, she wanted to explore the places that made Schoharie County such a desirable a place to live. Since the Arboretum was only a few miles from her new home, she started there, just walking the trails. When she had visitors, she brought them there for picnics and tailgate parties. She served two terms on the Board of Trustees. She joined the Communications Committee. Over the years, she was always there, at plant sales, the 5K, and in the kitchen of the Farm House coordinating lunches for the volunteers. In 2026, it is fitting that Gail, someone with history at Landis, now chairs the committee which is planning the Arboretum’s 75th anniversary celebration.
Gail has witnessed many changes at the Arboretum. She remembered the early days of the Meeting House, gaps between the siding, the wasp nests, and other rustic realities. Now she marvels at the structure’s “transformation” into a modern showcase with character and charm. For a long while, she imagined a pavilion to host events. And now, the Arboretum boasts a stunning pavilion adjacent to the Meeting House complex – “a dream come true,” she said. She’s seen the renovation of the Van Loveland Garden and the expansion of the trail system. A Book Store. The renovation of the historic Barn and the Farm House – including a modern kitchen to prepare lunches for the volunteers.
What’s kept her involved for so long? The people. People like her SUNY Cobleskiil colleague and friend Anne Donnelly. Bob and Carol Olsen. Ken and Marion Hotopp. And so many, many others, past and present. These are special people,” she said, but “everyone you meet is memorable, down to earth, and close to nature.”
For many years, Gail worked full-time for the New York State Department of Economic Development, focusing on minority- and women-owned businesses. She worked as Director of Community Outreach for SUNY Cobleskill until her retirement in 2007. She raised two children, jockeying them to sports and after school activities. She gardened too, with a huge vegetable garden, apple trees, and currant bushes. An “iris person,” she maintains a collection of German bearded irises that dates to her grandmother’s garden in the early 1900s.
But she always found time for the Arboretum.
She remembered taking her granddaughters to Anne Donnelly’s “Dragonflies and Damselflies” workshop and how entranced the girls became by insects, things that flew and crawled. She recalled their contagious enthusiasm with grandmotherly pride. That experience somehow encapsulated what the Arboretum means to Gail. It’s the people and what they have to share.
And Gail is one of them.