The Leelanau Conservancy has received a significant gift to help ensure that Conservancy natural areas and other protected lands in Leelanau can be cared for forever.

Mary Ellen Gotshall has gifted her summer home on Lake Michigan north of Leland to the Conservancy. Mary Ellen, along with her late husband, George, has been a member since we opened our doors. The Conservancy will re-sell the property and proceeds from the sale will launch a new fund which will help us care for the lands we have protected. It will be called the George and Mary Ellen Gotshall Stewardship Fund. We are very grateful for this wonderful, generous gift.

“As the legal stewards of the lands in our care, we take the phrase “forever protected” seriously,” says Director Brian Price. “This fund will help us uphold our responsibilities for their diligent and perpetual care and create opportunities for visitors to hike and enjoy. When you see work crews out on our natural areas, clearing new trails, controlling invasive species or improving habitat to protect the native wildlife, you can thank the Gotshalls and their amazing generosity.”

The Gotshall’s Leelanau story began in 1975, when George’s brother, Bill, invited them up for a long weekend. He had just bought a cottage in a place called Birchwood Shores. “He said, ‘You’ve got to come up here—this is heaven!’” recalls Mary Ellen.

The couple, then living near Detroit, packed the car and headed north with their children, Ellen and Tommy. Three days into their visit, they were hooked on the spectacular blue skies and beach-filled days. George asked Bill about properties for sale in the area, preferably something that was already built. A week later Bill called about a place newly on the market. “We turned around and came right back and bought it on a six-year land contract,” says Mary Ellen.

Thus began years of great times spent with family; first their own children, then grandchildren and great grandchildren. “Everyone knew everyone,” says Mary Ellen. She and George each followed their passions. Mary Ellen surrounded their home with rhododendrons and colorful annuals. The wildflowers in nearby Houdek Dunes drew her and the children on woodland walks. A fond memory is when her young grandson begged her, “Grandma, let’s go out into the woods and listen to the trees grow, and leave brother home with ‘Gampy.’ ”

George, who made his living as an attorney, adored fishing, and kept a boat on Lake Leelanau. He also took the occasional charter out of Leland for lake trout and salmon.

The couple was one of the Conservancy’s earliest supporters. “When Bobbie and Ed Collins came to talk to us about the Conservancy, George just thought it was a wonderful idea,” recalls Mary Ellen. The Gotshalls were among the first to join the Conservancy’s Sustainers Circle, a group that provides the lion’s share of the organization’s operating support.

George died in 1991, but had loved walking in what is now our Houdek Dunes Natural Area behind their home. When the Conservancy began fundraising to acquire the 330-acre property in 1998, Mary Ellen provided one of the lead gifts that helped to get the project rolling.

As time went by, son Tommy and Mary Ellen talked more about what she could do to create a family legacy. “Tommy loved it here too,” says Mary Ellen of her son who passed away last August after a battle with cancer. He was 64. Tommy had urged her to donate the valuable Birchwood Shores home to the Conservancy.

This fall, Mary Ellen decided it was time to act. “I have my house in lower Michigan, and a condo in Florida,” she says. “It’s gotten to be a bit much for me to take care of all three places. I’m glad that we can help the Conservancy. I like the idea of the Stewardship Fund and I think George would be pleased too.”

In November, like the 87-year-old does every year, Mary Ellen headed south, driving to Florida all by herself. “Mary Ellen has this amazing spunk,” says longtime neighbor Nancy Miller. “We will really miss her in the neighborhood.” As for George, says Nancy, he was “the kind of person who believed in the dignity and the worth of every human being.”

While Leelanau leaves a lasting impression on all of us, it is a rare person who can make a lasting impression on Leelanau. The Gotshalls have most certainly done that—not only with their friends and neighbors, but by leaving a legacy ensuring that Conservancy protected lands will be well cared for long after we’re gone.

For more info about the house, please contact Mark Carlson at Coldwell Banker at 231-256-9836 ext. 203 or the Leelanau Conservancy at 231-256-9665. The MLS listing # is 1710240.