Virtual Cheers To a True Tree Fruit Champion
March 8, 2021 
Throwback to early 2020: Michigan fruit grower Ed Wittenbach (left) congratulates Phil Schwallier after inducting the Michigan State University Extension Agent into the International Fruit Tree Association Hall of Fame.
Phil Schwallier retired last June in the middle of a pandemic. A year later, his Michigan State University colleagues are still waiting to throw what sounds like one heckuva retirement party for the longtime Extension agent.
In the meantime, MSU officials honored Schwallier in December during the Great Lakes Expo. The difference, of course, was that the celebration was “virtual.” Fittingly, Zoom was the platform used to highlight a 41-year career at MSU that I’m guessing seemed to otherwise zoom right by for Schwallier, who now gets to work full-time with his wife Judy on their 100-acre fruit farm, Schwallier’s Country Basket.
Somehow, Schwallier summed up his career in a presentation that, at the last second, he cut from 20 minutes to 4 minutes, as his was the final segment of a session that wound up running long.
“You can go a little longer, Phil,” moderator Amy Irish-Brown, his longtime Extension partner, said tongue in cheek. She knew there’d be plenty for Schwallier to talk about. “When I read the history, I’m, like, ‘Oh, yeah, Phil did that, and Phil did that,’” she said. “All these things that he’s done over the years that we all take for granted.”
Luckily I was able to meet Schwallier last year at the International Fruit Tree Association show in Grand Rapids. What struck me about him is his dedication. During the field-day events, I landed on the tour bus in which he was the guide. The man literally knows every nook and cranny of the Fruit Ridge in Southwest Michigan.
I also happened to meet Anna Wallis at that meeting. She was presenting on fire blight on behalf of Cornell University. Having since received her doctorate, she now succeeds Schwallier. “Thanks so much Phil!” Wallis wrote in the comments box during Schwallier’s Zoom talk. “I have big shoes to fill! Looking forward to working with you and all the people in MI soon.”
My first impression of Wallis leads me to believe she’ll do just fine in replacing a “legend,” as MSU’s Emily Pochubay described Schwallier in the same comments.
As for Schwallier, I wish him the best. As another attendee put it during the virtual send off, “It’s not fair that you can’t hear the applause.”
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