![\"Robert](\"https:\/\/www.silive.com\/resizer\/v2\/GGZ3GHTPTFDO5FBC7ENF63WO24.jpg?auth=a2792af620b343c4af699d682e6909dd3245efa62dede654a01a875c9ecd4b02&width=1280&smart=true&quality=90\")
Robert E. Campbell works on upkeeping the flower garden planted at the intersection of Targee Street and Sparkill Avenue in Dongan Hills on Wednesday, May 7, 2025.(Advance\/SILive.com | Jason Paderon)<\/p>\nEditor\u2019s Note: In honor of the many everyday Staten Islanders who give back, make change, inspire others, advocate and\/or care about their community, we are highlighting some of the standouts, and honoring them as Staten Island\u2019s Brightest Lights of 2025.<\/p>\n
Staten Island\u2019s Brightest Lights of 2025: Robert Campbell<\/p>\n
Instead of putting his feet up post-retirement, this 92-year-old gets to work, planting and tending to hundreds of flowers each year in one of the most unusual locations: A planter garden at the heart of a busy intersection where Richmond Road splits off to Targee Street, near a BP gas station.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a labor of love he\u2019s been doing for two decades and counting.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd everybody likes them,\u201d Campbell said of his flowers. \u201cI never get a negative word about the planter. And sometimes, when I feel that I should, I also brush the gutter. I take a broom, and brush the gutter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here is his story, originally published May 12, 2025:<\/p>\n
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 When most people reach retirement age, they tend to take it easy.<\/p>\n
But Robert E. Campbell, a Dongan Hills resident, is not like most people.<\/p>\n
Instead of putting his feet up, the 92-year-old gets to work, planting and tending to hundreds of flowers each year in one of the most unusual locations: A planter garden at the heart of a busy intersection where Richmond Road splits off to Targee Street, near a BP gas station.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a labor of love he\u2019s been doing for two decades and counting.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy wife used to come, she\u2019d sit on a chair directing me what to do,\u201d Campbell fondly recalled of his late wife, Patricia. \u201cAnd recently, because of my knees, my son helps me do the tulips because you have to dig a hole.\u201d<\/p>\n
The dazzling display \u2014 created on Campbell\u2019s own dime \u2014 is a sight to behold in full bloom, the endearing outcome of the immense effort put in by Campbell.<\/p>\n
Robert E. Campbell works on upkeeping the flower garden planted at the intersection of Targee Street and Sparkill Avenue in Dongan Hills on Wednesday, May 7, 2025.(Advance\/SILive.com | Jason Paderon)<\/p>\n
In the summer, Campbell can be seen visiting the site at least twice a week, watering the flowers, cultivating the soil and seeing the plants through their life cycle.<\/p>\n
He first came to tend tulips and the like in the early- to mid-2000s, when the borough president at the time, James Molinaro, made an effort to encourage residents to maintain new planters.<\/p>\n
Campbell took up his garden fork and answered the call.<\/p>\n
At the time, the program was headed up by Borough Hall in cooperation with the New York City Parks Department and the Department of Transportation. Materials for the initiative were provided by Borough Hall and the plantings were installed by inmates of the Arthur Kill Correction Facility, while Parks provided dirt and was responsible for organizing the first planting. Those individuals or businesses who volunteered were in charge of repair and upkeep.<\/p>\n
For a time, Campbell said, the flowers were paid for. These days, Campbell pays directly out of his pocket.<\/p>\n
Maintaining this public garden of sorts costs Campbell about $500 a year, a cost he has personally undertaken for the last eight years or so.<\/p>\n
When he plants the tulips for the spring he takes it upon himself to plant not just a couple dozen, but about 450 of them.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd everybody likes them,\u201d Campbell said of his flowers. \u201cI never get a negative word about the planter. And sometimes, when I feel that I should, I also brush the gutter. I take a broom, and brush the gutter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although Campbell has become something of a garden guardian, he did not lead a career in agriculture; his green thumb can be traced back to his family.<\/p>\n
Campbell\u2019s grandmother owned a farm of over 8 acres on Annadale Road; his mother and uncle were both raised on that same farm. Once his mother was married, she moved to Grant City, where Campbell was raised.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother was an avid flower person,\u201d Campbell explained. \u201cWhen I was in Grant City, we always had flowers in the backyard, oh yes. And also, there was an empty lot on the side for years and we raised vegetables.\u201d<\/p>\n
Growing up, Campbell graduated from New Dorp High School before earning a bachelor\u2019s degree in business administration from Baruch College in Manhattan. He has also earned two master\u2019s degrees, one in education from Wagner College and the other in public administration from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.<\/p>\n
For 39 years Campbell worked in the justice system as it underwent changes that saw the removal of the magistrate court. In his role, Campbell came to work as a probation officer for the New York City Department of Probation in Family Court on Staten Island.<\/p>\n
Eventually, Campbell retired, but for the last 26 years he has worked on guardianship cases for the Supreme Court as a court evaluator and guardian ad litem.<\/p>\n
In addition to his extensive career, Campbell is the founder of the New Dorp High School Alumni Association and served as a member of the vestry at St. Mary\u2019s Episcopal Church for 30 years.<\/p>\n
Still, despite all the work he\u2019s done \u2014 and the continued demands of his work in guardianship cases \u2014 Campbell manages to find time to dedicate to the Dongan Hills garden.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like flowers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs they say, \u2018if you don\u2019t get yourself involved in a garden, you\u2019re close to the good Lord,\u2019\u201d added Campbell.<\/p>\n
Campbell particularly enjoys admiring impatiens and geraniums in his garden.<\/p>\n
Campbell plans to continue tending to the Dongan Hills green space as long as he can.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs long as the good Lord takes care of me, I will be working. The Lord says you work till the day you die. I can\u2018t give up, I\u2019m not the kind that sits and goes on and just watch TV all day, I have to be doing something.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Editor\u2019s Note: In honor of the many everyday Staten Islanders who give back, make change, inspire others, advocate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":77938,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-77937","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}