Welcome Karen Lavin to the TLC Board

Karen has lived in Wonder Lake, IL most of her life. She was an attorney for 35 years and is now retired. She has fond memories of growing up on a lake – when it was sunny she was swimming, sailing, rowing or skiing, and in rainy weather she would search for frogs, turtles and other aquatic wildlife. She adopted two children and took them to many Conservation District programs at Glacial Park. Karen got interested in native gardening when she moved to a lakefront home again 12 years ago, avoiding the use of chemicals on the lawn and landscaping so as to not pollute the lake. On that quest she discovered TLC and that ‘lawn’ is optional!  She has since transformed at least 2/3 of her lawn into native plantings, from prairie to woodland. It’s a work in progress and her goal is to reduce the lawn to no more than is necessary for a game of croquet. She has expanded her native gardening work to the park just south of her home and the wetlands to the north. She is currently of counsel to Lavin & Parisi, a family law firm in Crystal Lake, social chair of McHenry Rotary Club and spends any time not gardening with her granddaughters, bike riding with her husband, scuba diving in the Caribbean and enjoying the lake.