Horticulture community turns out to wish Bob Neier well

Master gardeners past and present, retired county extension agents from Sedgwick and Reno counties, former Extension Service directors, garden-center owners and his successor showed up Friday to praise and say thanks to extension agent Bob Neier, who is retiring at the end of the month.

Even his adviser at K-State who directed Neier toward a career as an extension agent — first in Reno County — came to a reception for Neier on Friday afternoon at the Extension Education Center.

“He was a great student,” said Dick Wootton, now retired himself. And Neier was a great teacher, said master gardeners who have worked with him over his 26 years in Sedgwick County.

Neier said one reason he did not mind retiring was that Wichitan Matt McKernan, who just graduated from K-State himself, is taking his place, and Neier said he’ll do a great job. Plus, the Extension is made up of more than his contribution, Neier said.

“It’s yours,” he told the crowd, “and you feel the ownership.”

McKernan has already started in his new job and will overlap with Neier briefly. Neier said he might come back as a master-gardener volunteer one day, but not before giving McKernan plenty of space to do his job. One of the things Neier will do in retirement is a part-time business of injecting trees that have iron chlorosis, he said.

This story was originally published June 19, 2015 at 7:29 PM with the headline "Horticulture community turns out to wish Bob Neier well."