Barry Weidner
Born in
August 1935
Returning to Concord
Upon graduation, he signed up for a trip to Fairbanks, Alaska with some of his high school friends to work in a gold mining camp for the summer which he enjoyed immensely.
1953
Childhood
He entered college in Boston at Northeastern University and was interested in business management. At the end of his first year he knew working indoors for a lifetime was not to his liking and applied to Cornell University in Ithaca, NY where he was accepted. He received a deferment from being drafted into the Armed Services until finishing his education.
Grew up in Concord, Massachusetts where he was very interested in music and played the saxophone in both the marching band and the school orchestra. Barry sang lead in some of the school’s yearly operettas, ran cross-country, track and played on the high school golf team.
Barry graduated in 1958 with a B.S. Degree in Ornamental Horticulture and Nursery Management. Uncle Sam was waiting and he was soon drafted into the Army. He was stationed at Fort Gordon, GA. While in the army, Barry became a Radio Teletype Operator and taught Morse code, which was a mystery since he always had difficulty hearing high pitched tones. He often said he could feel the code when he held his hands on the radio.
1958
In 1959, while in the service, he married Sue Morse. In 1960, they welcomed their daughter Kathryn Sue into the family in Augusta, GA (she was born in the “brats barrack”).
Nashville, TN
Barry was hired by Davey Tree in October 1961. His first job was in Nashville, TN. to landscape the State Capital Grounds. That project took two years to complete. While in Nashville, son Michael Barry was welcomed into the family.
Augusta, GA
Laurinburg, VA
Barry was then transferred to Laurinburg, VA to work on the landscaping of a local college which took a year to complete. He then spent a year moving large trees on a private property in Kinloch, VA. Large trees consisted of mature trees about 20” in diameter or 60+” in circumference.
1963 & 1964
In the spring of 1963, son Thomas Garrett was welcomed into the family in Hammondsport, NY. During the winter of that same year, Barry attended the Davey Institute of Technical Services (DITS) in Kent, Ohio.
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After school was out, he was asked to look for a piece of farmland upon which Davey Tree could start a tree nursery. After months of looking for the right type of soil, water availability and location that would allow access to markets, a 160 acre farm was purchased in an area outside Wooster, OH and the family moved again. In 1964, after many, many hours of hard work preparing the land, the first tree planting took place. Barry did almost everything with his first tractor, a 1964 Ford 4000 with a loader and backhoe. (This tractor was still in use until the mid 2000’s).
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Trees were shipped via rail car to Wooster where they were picked up and loaded by hand on a flatbed truck. In the early years a 3-acre lake was built on the nursery to allow for irrigation of the newly planted trees. During the winter Barry and his employees would cut ice from the pond to use as cold storage for the trees arriving from Oregon.
An Innovator
Barry was an innovator at the Davey Tree Farm. He developed many new ideas for tree harvest to evolve from the early years of hand digging trees and using metal skids called “stone boats” to move the trees out of the fields. He used every idea at his disposal including electric jack hammers to speed up the digging process, (use of one jack hammer nearly cost him a toe). He implemented the use of highly specialized trenchers that could cut a cone out of soil. These innovations gave way to the development of hydraulic tree spades.
1985
In 1985 Barry was asked by his long-time boss and friend Howard Eckel to landscape the newly built Davey Tree Corporate Office in Kent, Ohio. A 2-week project that grew into a 6-week project with many adds and new ideas coming to light as the project commenced. Many large trees were brought to the facility and moved on-site. (If you stop by you can still see the handwork of Barry’s designs and planting ideas).
Barry & Micki were married in January 1982. Barry welcomed Micki’s daughters, Renee’ and Debbie into his life. Micki became a hacker at the game of golf so they could spend as much time together as possible on weekends. They joined a mixed couples league at Chippewa and spent many, many enjoyable evenings and weekends playing golf.
1982
Golfing at Every Destination
Every few years, Barry went to Gresham, Oregon, just outside Portland, to visit the tree nurseries, learn the latest techniques in the industry and determine which trees to order for the next planting season. Micki was able to accompany him several times on these trips. Both sets of golf clubs always went along to play the beautiful courses along the ocean or on the mountainsides of Oregon. The clubs went to Hawaii, Florida, California, up and down the east coast and Las Vegas where Barry & Micki won a Davey Tree scramble along with another Davey employee and his wife. The only trip the clubs stayed home was when they went on a cruise in Alaska.
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Of course, he played in as many Davey Tree Golf Outings as possible and usually with great success. In 1983, Barry took top honors with a low gross of 77 at the grueling Cypress Golf Course at Sunol Valley in California. That same year, a few weeks later, Barry also took low net honors at the 6th Annual Davey Tree Golf Outing in Kent, OH. The company newsletter said the tournament was truly a company-wide championship with Barry’s presence.
A Davey Tree Expert Company board of Directors dinner was held at the Nursery in 1991, out in a field, in a tent. Production increased as the Nursery grew to 320+ acres requiring 25,000 trees to be planted each spring to keep up with a growing demand for superior quality trees.
1991
A Career at Davey Tree
During his tenure with Davey, Barry served in many roles including, Manager, Vice President, Instructor at the Davey Institute of Trees Sciences (DITS) and as an active shareholder for the Davey ESOP program. His insights were sought after on many fronts by those who knew him. He worked with the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) shade tree evaluation program selecting and rating the many cultivars of trees that would come to market.
Additionally, Barry was selected to be a member of the first President’s Council by then Davey CEO and President Doug Cowan. Later he was a recipient of the first John Davey award. Barry was responsible for the development of several new tree cultivars of his own including the 222 Norway Maple and the Davey Red Maple. He created an internship program at the nursery in conjunction with Ohio State to bring new people into the industry. He loved his job and working with trees. He retired in 1998 after 37 years with Davey Tree.
After retirement, Barry & Micki bought a second home on Hilton Head Island, SC. They spent an average of 5 months a year in the south for almost 20 years and have many, many wonderful memories. He was asked to join a group of golfers called the Hilton Head Rangers. They played area golf courses on the island, Beaufort, Savannah, Parris Island and surrounding area every Friday.
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Moving to Hilton Head full time was NOT an option to them and they sold their home on the island in 2015. Doylestown is home because it’s near the family. He and Micki have a large combined family of six children, 14 grandchildren, 5 great grandchildren and still counting. Barry was also lucky enough to have a niece and nephew who also called him Dad.
Hilton Head, SC
Barry Weidner is truly
un-fore-gettable!
Barry's Legacy
Barry was a husband, father, teacher and innovator, but most of all he was friend to everyone. He never met a person that was not his friend or not about to become one. If you have ever had a hug or a handshake from Barry, you knew he meant it and you probably suffered some broken bones from the encounter. His many accomplishments could not be captured in these words nor can the feeling of pride we all have for knowing him and being part of his life. Barry passed in October 2020.
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According to the history Barry wrote of himself: “The best things in my life were my family, my job with Davey Tree, my enjoyment of golf, an accumulation of wonderful friends and neighbors, but the number one thing to me is my marriage to Micki.”
