Delaware News Journal
As many of southern Delaware's forests and farmlands are sold to developers for millions of dollars, Georgetown's Austin Okie is instead creating a legacy of land preservation.
The humble 94-year-old has been quietly donating money and land to conservation organizations for years. From Millsboro to Fenwick Island, some of Sussex County's most ecologically valuable acres are protected thanks to Okie.
“It’s hard to imagine what Delaware would look like without Austin Okie’s decades of generosity and passion for our natural spaces," said Lori Brennan, executive director of The Nature Conservancy in Delaware and Pennsylvania. "He and his family have protected and preserved thousands of acres of important forests and open space in Delaware, safeguarding an irreplaceable mosaic of plant life and wildlife habitat."
Okie has deep passion for Sussex County and recognizes how important it is to maintain the natural environment, according to Delaware Center for the Inland Bays Executive Director Christophe Tulou.
"He's made that very clear, through his lifetime of philanthropy and personal engagement," Tulou said.
Coming from Okie's own mouth, his interest in land preservation is simple.
"It almost seemed like fate or something like that," he said. "I knew somehow it should not be sold to developers. It should be used for protecting the environment, and I was right."
Who is Austin Okie?
Okie worked as a mechanic, never went to college and called himself "a late bloomer-type," but he's not the type to toot his own horn.
Ryan Faucett is Okie's 33-year-old first cousin twice removed and his next-door neighbor. He is proud of Okie, calling him intelligent, thoughtful and determined, and said he finds Okie's love and respect for both nature and local history inspiring.
"He has traced the origins of all the property he owns and has given away, as well as much of the rest of Sussex County," Ryan Faucett said. "He has a deep sense of gratitude for the hard work of his ancestors, and he has made concerted efforts to honor the native Americans who came before them (like at Bullseye Farm)."
His cousin was never the type of man to drink or gamble, values frugality and is "surprisingly progressive for a man in his 90s," Ryan Faucett said.
Okie's grandfather, Linford P. Faucett, was one of the largest landowners in southern Delaware, a 1931 news article said. Faucett was born in Georgetown but lived in Philadelphia, where he was the general manager of H.K. Mulford Co., a pharmaceutical company that later became part of Merck.
Much of Okie's land was left to him by his mother, Isabel Okie, who was Linford P. Faucett's daughter.
"I started looking into who I was and I was so damn surprised," Okie said. "I didn't have a clue."
Bullseye-Ferry Landing Preserve
Okie and his family first donated land to The Nature Conservancy in 1997. The over 400-acre Bullseye-Ferry Landing Preserve is located just north of Mountaire and on the Indian River in Millsboro.
It's a "mosaic of diverse living communities," The Nature Conservancy website says, home to rare flora and fauna and over 65 species of migratory birds. Right next door, the Okie family farm also was placed under a conservation easement with The Nature Conservancy.
Around 1700, the Waples family came into control of the property and established a ferry there. Okie's grandfather bought the land in 1906, he said, but Okie himself made the effort to find the records that named the Native American that originally lived there. Now, the first line of the historical marker at Bullseye-Ferry Landing states: "Before Dutch control of what is now Sussex County, Native American Iwatama Socuum held 'Long Reach,' now Bullseye-Ferry Landing Preserve."
As a nature preserve, Bullseye-Ferry Landing is not open to the public.
Marian R. Okie Memorial Wildlife Preserve
In 2007, Okie and The Nature Conservancy preserved an additional 118 acres at Poplar Thicket in Long Neck. The Marian R. Okie Memorial Wildlife Preserve, now managed by the state, is one of the few undeveloped properties along Long Neck Road.
Marian Okie, Okie's only daughter, died in a car accident when she was 24 years old, in 1982.
"Lots of people go down there to take photographs of the birds, the sunrise, the sunset. Professional photographers, amateur photographers," Okie said. "It's because it's the only place left."
Okie's grandfather bought the land in 1912, he said. The 118-acre property contains tidal salt marsh, wetlands, forests, fields and a beach on the Indian River Bay, according to The Nature Conservancy.
Fenwick Island land
In September, Okie donated two forested, ocean-block properties to the town of Fenwick Island, under a conservation easement. The lots have been in his family for centuries, he said, and he helped survey them as a boy.
The properties will become the Faucett Okie Family Preserve, Fenwick Mayor Natalie Magdeburger said. (Okie's mother was Isabel Faucett.) The town plans to open the preserve to the public before Memorial Day with a formal dedication in the fall.
Sussex County land
Last month, Okie sold Sussex County about 40 acres of forested land on Cordrey Road in Millsboro for about half the cost of its value.
Located next to East Coast Garden Center, the deed stipulates the property will not be developed except for public recreational access.
Sussex County spokesman Chip Guy said there are no plans for the property yet.
Burton's Island
Okie didn't donate this Burton's Island, but his family sold it to the state in the 1970s, he said, and the land became a nature preserve as part of Delaware Seashore State Park.
"It was mostly marsh, but some of the land was tillable and they raised sheep over there," he said. "You had to go by boat."
Today, you can get to Burton's Island's 1-mile hiking loop by walking across a footbridge. Burton's Island separates the Rehoboth and Indian River bays, so it has views of both, plus wetlands and forests. It's a great place to spot shorebirds.
The Austin F. Okie Watershed Society
The nonprofit Delaware Center for the Inland Bays' Austin F. Okie Watershed Society was created last year to recognize Okie's contributions and others who reach the same level of giving.
Members of the society have gifted or otherwise cumulatively contributed $50,000 or more to the Center.
"He is the founding member," Tulou said. "The society is in his honor and an inspiration for others to do as much for the bays and their watershed as he has over his lifetime."
"This is a very special place we call home, and I feel a strong responsibility to protect our unique bays and wildlife," Okie told Center representatives.
"My hope for the future is that many, many more people will support the Center for the Inland Bays' efforts to protect and restore them."
(This story was updated to correct a misspelled name. Delaware Center for the Inland Bays executive director is Christophe Tulou.)
Shannon Marvel McNaught reports on southern Delaware and beyond. Reach her at [email protected].