Memories of Steve Young

By Joseph Robertson (February 2011)

I can remember when Steve had just a few plants. But I knew that Steve had an interest in plants and nature. So, one day, while Steve was at work, I dug the first garden at the house. Steve loved it and our shared love for plants and gardening began.

Then Steve’s brother Dave gave us an echinopsis – our first cactus – and a few weeks later it bloomed. With that flower, our special love for cacti and succulents took off. It was not very long until the dozen or so plants became a few hundred. We rapidly ran out of room on the window shelves and in the house in general. The time had come to build a green house. The collection was now huge.

One day Steve told me about this cactus club – the Henry Shaw Cactus Society. We knew that we needed help with some of the plants because you can only get so much information from books. Steve and I joined the club. The wealth and the exchange of knowledge was incredible. We learned a tremendous amount of information about our plants from the other members.

We were very involved with the club and went to all the functions and entered the shows. It was not very long before people fell in love with Steve’s personality, and Steve was nominated and elected as president. Steve enjoyed the job. He would listen and was open to everyone.

Steve passed on January 6, 2011, after a battle with a heart valve replacement that developed a growth and caused a stroke. Steve and his family were, and still are, a huge part of my life. They always will be. I will miss Steve, but I have some of the plants we collected together. Steve lives on in those plants.