Old truck photo by Lisa Gebo
www.montanaseniornews.com
TAKE ONE!
FREE!
A Season of Hope and Renewal – Wildwood Nursery’s San Schwalbe contemplates next year’s garden
By Kim Thielman-Ibes During these last precious days of summer, as we’re greeted by morning’s crisp, biting chill, San Schwalbe of Wildwood Nursery is happily tending to her end-of-summer duties at Wildwood Nursery in Big Sky: taking inventory of plants that will be wintered over; discussing last minute landscaping plans with clients; preparing her greenhouses with
fall color; and for the inevitable end of our short growing season. Yet, as we head into the dormant season in this land we fondly call ‘next year country’, Schwalbe herself is budding with a renewed sense of life. Diagnosed with breast cancer early 2012, going through a double mastectomy, reconstruction and as she calls it, “all the craziness,” of commuting between the Comprehensive Breast Center of Arizona and Big Sky while trying to open her business, Schwalbe is more than a survivor she’s a life force to be reckoned with. “She’s a fighter and probably one of the hardest working people I’ve ever known,” says her fiancé who runs the landscape maintenance side of Schwalbe’s company. “When we first got the news we thought it was going to be a minor deal, and thought it would be no problem to get through this and still get the business open for the season.” Schwalbe approached her initial diagnosis the way she’s
always approached challenges in her life. “I didn’t pretend to know everything about it, but I was going to find someone who did,” she says, “I run my company like this, I partner with people who are experts in the field.” With family members cheering Schwalbe, she looked into second, third, and fourth opinions on her initial diagnosis. Her non-invasive lumpectomy, a relatively simple procedure morphed into a fullscale double mastectomy. “My doctor in Phoenix opted for an MRI, which was the only way to find it. I feel really blessed, this woman saved my life.” Not that there ever could be a good time for this sort of thing, truly the timing could not have been worse for Schwalbe and Wildwood Nursery. The nursery and landscape business in Big Sky is a seasonal one and for the last thirty-two years, she’s been open from May through September each season. Her early spring diagnosis, subsequent surgery, and recovery period threatened to wipe out an entire year’s worth of business. “It was a challenging summer,” she says with the sun on her face and a smile in her voice. “My livelihood for the year and then being diagnosed with this craziness. I have an amazing staff.” As Schwalbe’s business begins its transition into fall and prepares to close for the coming winter months, Schwalbe (Continued on page 45)