You might say that Bill LeFevre has the most beautiful office space in Durham. Or even North Carolina. As the executive director of Sarah P. Duke Gardens, LeFevre oversees a botanical paradise that covers 55 acres and draws 600,000 visitors per year. A mellow jammer with a whimsical outlook – who proudly calls himself a Deadhead – LeFevre, 69, once worked as a Navy air traffic controller on an aircraft carrier before leaving the service and using the GI Bill to complete a degree in landscape design at the University of Connecticut. He later earned his graduate degree at the University of Delaware as a fellow in the Longwood Graduate Program in Public Horticulture. While the garden he tends at Duke provides us a stunning vista, don’t expect his own yard at home to be a landscaping showpiece, he confesses. He’s got an expanding crop of hellebores taking over his lawn, and these colorful perennial flowering plants – that deer won’t touch – make his own secret garden as understatedly elegant and peaceful as he is.
What do you consider your greatest achievement? Careerwise, being selected as the first full-time executive director of Sarah P. Duke Gardens – in 2007.
What is your idea of perfect happiness? A road trip to a place I’ve never been with my wife, Polly.
If you could be something other than an executive director of a massive horticultural garden (and all of the many things you do) what would it be? I’d like to be a kindergarten teacher.
Who is your favorite hero of fiction and why? Harold, from the book “Harold and the Purple Crayon.” Whatever he draws becomes a reality.
What is your greatest extravagance? My green 1993 Volvo 240 wagon with 215,000 miles on it. I’ve had it since it was brand new. It’s the car I use on weekends to take my dog for a walk. (About his dog: It’s an English cream golden retriever named Hunter, who is 9 – a rescue during the pandemic.)
Which living person do you most admire? Jimmy Carter. He was the first person I voted for. Not so much for what he accomplished as president, but for his prolific public service in the years after he left office.
What is your favorite journey? Crossing the Atlantic Ocean on a ship. I’ve done it four times.
What talent – outside of those you utilize in your current job – would you most like to have? A good singing voice. I can’t sing to save my life. (He likes Frank Sinatra, Bonnie Raitt and Art Garfunkel as singers.)
What is the trait you like most about yourself? Foresight. I may not always be right, but I have an analytical mind.
What is the trait you like most in others? A tie between humility and honesty.
Who is your favorite hero of sports? Arnold Palmer. I had the opportunity to meet him many years ago and found him to be very warm and generous. I’ve always been impressed with what he did for the game of golf. Fun fact: LeFevre once saw Palmer, Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus play together during the Par 3 tournament at the Master’s in Augusta.
Which words or phrases do you most overuse? “I can’t talk right now.” I get wrapped up in multitasking.
What is your favorite go-to snack (and when do you attack it)? Talenti Madagascar Vanilla Bean gelato – along with a good movie on Netflix – and the pint is often a single serving.
What makes you laugh the most? My wife and my dog – in that order.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? My teeth. I have lousy teeth. I have to get some implants. I’ve had bridges all my life.
What is the possession that you most treasure and why? My wedding ring. I’ve been married 38 years. It’s just a simple gold band that on the inside says “Polly to Bill.” My wife has one that says “Bill to Polly.”
What is your favorite music (for relaxing, driving, working out)? The Grateful Dead. (He loves the song “Bertha.”) I’ve been a Deadhead forever. I never saw them in Cameron, but I was at Summer Jam at Watkins Glen, New York, in 1973. With 600,000 people, it made Woodstock look like a cookout.
What is the best advice you ever received about life – and who gave it? From the woman who became my wife, when I got out of college. She encouraged me to take aptitude testing at the Johnson O’Connor Research Institute. It helped me to better understand myself and ultimately led me into public horticulture.
What is one thing you’d like tell the Duke alums about your role at Duke and how you do your job at Duke Gardens? What I do here and what our staff does here would not be possible without the decades of loyal support – of time, talent and treasure – that we have received from the alumni of the university. They make what we do possible.