Steve Lewis steers his small pontoon boat slowly along the shoreline of South Bar Lake, cutting the engine every once in a while to point something out, a line of decaying logs left over from the lumber era sunk in the shallows, a wood duck’s high, distinctive squeal from somewhere in the reeds or a patch of light green foliage that will bloom into the purple flowers of an invasive plant he’s spent years trying to keep in check.
It would be easy to describe Lewis purely with a list of titles including volunteer lake biologist for the South Bar Lake Association, board member with Leelanau Clean Water, member of the Empire Area Community Center and the Empire Lions Club. But sit with him for a few hours and a different picture forms, one of someone who has spent the back half of his life trying to get himself out of the center of the story.
“It’s not about me,” he said more than once. “This servant’s heart, it’s about preserving this. That’s what it’s about.”
