The Williams House, which is now the Karen Miller Event Center at the nature and historical learning center.
DAVISON TWP. -- When Robert Williams, chairman of Genova Industries, donated his family's sprawling 102 acres of wooded property on Atherton Road, west of M-15, to the township back in 2012 it was with the understanding it would be developed into a nature preserve and maintained in 'pristine condition'.
The donation came after then-township Zoning and Building Administrator Randy Stewart asked Williams to consider donating his property to the township, finally convincing him after asking him what he wanted his legacy to be.
What developed from the donation of the property Williams and his family had lived on for more than 50 years was a collaborative effort between Davison Community Schools, Davison Township and the Davison Area Historical Society to develop walking trails, learning programs and a new museum with Davison history on display.
"I'm glad we've been able to keep this property the way it was," said Williams during a grand opening ceremony of the site in 2014. "You can travel hundreds of miles in every direction and never find anything like this."
Much of the development of the facility was done during the administrations of township supervisors Kurt Soper, who died in 2018, and Karen Miller, using grant money obtained through the state of Michigan.
Fast forward to 2023 and a new administration under Supervisor Jim Slezak is looking at cost-savings throughout the township, but specifically from the Davison Township Parks & Recreation Department.
Slezak has said he is not anti-parks but favor reducing costs to the parks budget, which he said is not sustainable long-term.
An email request to Slezak for comment for this report was not returned.
A township advisory board was formed in 2023 to come up with ideas to keep costs down and revenue up to make the parks less dependent on the township's general fund. That board was later disbanded without many results.
In 2024 Keri Williams De Boer, 58, daughter of Robert and Jill Williams, now residing in Holland, Mich., said she received word from a friend in Davison that there were funding issues with the parks.
De Boer said she shared this news with her father, who lives in Florida, and he expressed concern about his former property and the agreement with the township.
So, she came to a township board meeting where she made her family's intentions known - if the nature center were to fall into disrepair from budget cuts the family would enact a clause in the agreement to take back the 102 acres.
Since then, De Boer has appeared regularly at board meetings to let officials know she is still watching and keeping appraised of what goes on at her family's former home.
A 1985 graduate of Davison High School, De Boer said she and her family moved to the Atherton Road property when she was three years old.
"That was a place where my sister (Lori) and I grew up climbing trees and had horses out there. There were always adventures to be had," she said. "My dad took amazing care of the land. He always planted trees on Arbor Day, our lawn was always pristine and we were always out in the woods making sure (fallen) trees were not just laying around."
De Boer said there was a "golf ball tree" in the woods where her grandfather Flynn, her mother's father, would go out to the back of the property, which is the third hole at the Davison Country Club golf course and collect golf balls that were shot into the woods.
He'd tie them up to the tree with a nail so it looked like the tree was growing golf balls, she said. During school field trips taken to the property, De Boer said her mother would tell the kids that's where golf balls come from.
Other memories she shared included ice skating on the creek, riding little 'kitty cat snowmobiles' all over the trails in the back, and her sister's pony 'Princess' who they'd take out into the trails and play hide and seek with.
"My mom used to go out and collect golf balls with my dog Ginger, a Sheltie," De Boer said. "And if she couldn't reach it she'd point to it wherever it was and Ginger would go and get it and my mom got hundreds of golf balls every year."
De Boer said she and her sister located a few different spots throughout the land where they found old bottles, tin cups and other artifacts and they had no idea how old they were.
Overall, she likened the property to something you would find in northern Michigan, not something found in these parts very often.
"It's like going up north," De Boer said. "You've got to experience those woods and the animals and everything. My sister and I learned a lot out there...we were both tomboys. My dad would teach us how to shoot, we'd carve soap with knives and he would teach us all sorts of stuff out in the woods.
"We enjoyed amazing family time, while learning how important and beautiful the land is," she said.
De Boer's grandparents, Robert F. and Athelone Williams, also lived in the south house on the property and the family built a bridge to a bigger house nearby where her father's sister Jeanne and her husband, Tom Maletic, lived. She said she and her sister grew up with their cousins, Gregory and Michael Maletic.
"There's just a lot of memories in that land," she said.
When word came about the township board discussions over the parks she decided to come attend a meeting and see what was happening.
At the time, De Boer said it had been proposed to close the Robert Williams Nature & Historical Learning Center during weekdays, along with the museum, and only have the property open to the public on weekends.
"The agreement said...that park has to be taken care of in a certain way and be open for all to enjoy. Closing it during the week takes the opportunity for schools to bring students," she said. "Many kids would never have the opportunity to see woods like this."
She said there was also speculation by community members the township might try to sell the property, but she said the agreement prohibits a sale, instead requiring the township to return it to a "blood relative" of Robert Williams if it no longer wanted the land.
That prompted De Boer to get involved and she said the family hired attorneys to look into the agreement and whether it was being honored.
If the William's family had a reason to take the land back and De Boer couldn't find anyone to take care of it she said they would hire security and maintenance and hopefully keep it open as a park.
Currently, she said the property is being maintained, but she is still concerned because the only full-time maintenance help the township has for all of its parks is Riley Ferguson who was recently promoted to be maintenance supervisor.
"That's an impossible job when you have over 100 acres, just in our land," De Boer said. "With all the trees that fall there and the floods caused by beavers building dams out there, and the upkeep on the houses. It's just impossible for one person to take care of all of that and all other parks and cemeteries."
She said all the Williams family is asking is that the township hire more maintenance help, aside from seasonal workers it may employ, to help get all of the work done at the parks.
"I know they have the money for more maintenance people," De Boer said. "I will continue to rattle the cage until the township hires more maintenance."
De Boer added she doesn't want to keep coming to meetings to "fight with everyone" but just asks that the township hire someone to fill the open position Ferguson left when he became supervisor earlier this summer.
Admittedly, she said she thinks more maintenance workers are needed to keep up her family's property and all the other Davison Township parks. She added she thinks as many as four would be preferable but says at least one or two would be a start.
"Why would you not want to keep it nice for all the people in the township?" De Boer said. "It makes no sense. I admit my priority is the Williams land, but I'm fighting for the other parks and cemeteries. More maintenance is a benefit for all the parks."