It was in 1985 when Gerhard Steudel took over as director of landscaping at the health of Loma Linda University. He recently announced his upcoming retirement and thanked Lluh officials for his service.
“I think I had one of the best jobs here. The motto of our department is:” We create the first impression, “he said in an interview.” We get a lot of compliments. “
Steudel and his team of 20 landscapes have worked to achieve a strong first impression that regularly mowed 22 hectares of lawns, trimming trees and shrubs and planted and maintained a variety of flowers on the main campus of Lluh. The team also creates the popular flower montages for the opening weekend, an arrangement that Steudel began in 1980 after he had given the idea of a rose parade float.
Steudel says that his team's work on the campus site not only helps with the look, but also for patients and students.
“I think we were able to expand the campus to expand the healing and learning environment,” he said. “I want people to come here and be happy.”
The team recycles its entire green waste – incredible 185 tons a year. It is ground and used for mulch on campus.
“We have not sent green waste to the landfill since 1988,” he says.
Steudel, a graduate of Cal Poly with a bachelor's degree in horticulture and a minor in business, began working in the Campus Engineering department at Lluh in 1968. There he washed vehicles and regularly crawled through the main tunnel of the campus supply company to replace light bulbs. He began working in the landscape department in 1978.
The campus has changed a lot since it started here. It remembers more open spaces, fewer parking structures, a farm between today's Loma Linda Academy and the main campus and orange groves, in which the East Campus Hospital is now located, and near the location of the current behavioral medicine center.
His first major project was the development of landscape design for the Drayson Center opened in 1995. He was announced that the budget would be low due to the economic slowdown in 1994. A few days later he drove to Orange County and noticed a golf course that was closed and his terrain torn. Due to the payment of charges, Lluh was able to secure free sod cuts for the Drayson Center Super Field and other parts of the Lluh main campus. He also developed the landscape design in the Centennial complex when it opened in 2009.
Steudel also boasts over the registered rose varieties on the entire campus. A rose breeder in Northern California donated the roses for the Lluh Mission Globe.
Steudel will retire in April and plan to move to Tennessee.
“I loved this job. I had to be outside in nature and I still feel so healthy,” said Steudel.
“I love Loma Linda. I have to help make the place look beautiful.”