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Pine Hills Nature Preserve
A Tradition of Giving
Written By: Shawndra Miller
Date Published: April 6, 2023
Shawndra Miller
First in a series memorializing our friend and benefactor, Len Betley
Our spring newsmagazine features a tribute to the late Len Betley, whose support of conservation in general and our work in particular had an enormous impact. Here, we talk with Len’s son Tom Betley. Tom is the Associate Vice Chair for Budget and Finance at the IU Department of Medicine. He serves on our board as Vice Chair of Programs, generously volunteering his time and expertise to our mission. He offered these reflections on his father’s legacy.
What did your father impart to you about what it means to be a good citizen/community member?
My father strongly believed that fulfilling one’s responsibilities was the most important thing a person to do and he wasn’t shy about telling his children that. He meant fulfilling one’s responsibilities broadly—to one’s family, employer, coworkers, employees, and to one’s community. “Obligation over fun,” he would say.
Tom Betley, center, on a board hike at Betley Woods in 2019
Admonishments that my brother and I should spend less time pursuing fun and more time attending to our duties aside, his most effective way of imparting this to us was by example. He worked hard, lived simply and had a set of strong moral and ethical values that he adhered to. Almost begrudgingly, it seeped into us—even if we allowed for a little more fun than he thought we should.
Our dinner table conversations were filled with talk of all the many foundations and charitable organizations that both my father and my mother were deeply involved in. From what I could see growing up, participating in and supporting community organizations was just what you did. It didn’t really occur to me that there was any other way.
How did he show his concern for nature, and how did he share that with you and the rest of the family or close friends?
My father had a lifelong passion for nature and for most of his life he was deeply involved in nature conservation. He was a deeply practical man. Science wasn’t his strong suit and he had little patience for solutions that didn’t take into account hard political and financial realities. Fortunately, taking into account political and financial realities was an area of strength for him and that is where he focused his energy in nature conservation.
It started in the early sixties when my father read an article about the Indiana Chapter of The Nature Conservancy and their efforts to protect Pine Hills, the Indiana Chapter’s first project. He decided to make a small donation to The Nature Conservancy to support the acquisition of Pine Hills. It would have been a small donation by necessity, but it led to him becoming a member of the board of the Indiana Chapter for a short time in the 1960s.
He rejoined the board in the 1980s eventually serving as its Chairman in the early 1990s. As part of his work with the conservancy, he helped draft and secure passage of the Indiana Heritage Trust Act (which provided funding for land acquisition for public use in Indiana) and was a recipient of the Oak Leaf Award.
He loved visiting nature preserves and enjoyed hiking, canoeing, and whitewater rafting (although he had a bad habit of falling out of the boat). Perhaps this is the root of what set him on this path of wanting to conserve nature.
As he got older he became more passionate about conservation as he was deeply concerned about climate change and the world that his children and especially his grandchildren would be inheriting.
What do you hope he would be remembered for? How do you see his legacy?
This is hard to answer—Dad had an amazing life. Starting from humble beginnings in Depression-era Fort Wayne, he became a highly successful attorney. He helped form and manage three of the largest charitable foundations in Indianapolis: The Richard M Fairbanks Foundation, the Regenstrief Foundation, and the Walther Cancer Foundation. He served on a number of boards, including The Nature Conservancy of Indiana, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and BioCrossroads, among others. From these positions he had a great impact on Indiana and beyond in many ways.
He did not seek recognition or acclaim, but for many this is what he will be remembered for. For those that worked for him he was a generous and patient mentor. For his family, he was a good husband and father and a loving grandfather.
Personally, I see his legacy as the values that he instilled in his children and grandchildren. For example, when I was in my early twenties my parents started a small family foundation. It wasn’t large amounts of money, but my brother and I were to be the ones to decide what organizations the foundation would make its donations to.
I think the plan was that this was supposed to act as a sort of gateway for us. Through the process of researching who we should give our small gifts to, we would learn more about different organizations, discover what we were interested in and passionate about supporting, and would start to not just give from the foundation but also individually and start to get more broadly involved. Hopefully it would start a family tradition of giving.
Like many of Dad’s plans, it appears to be working. Now that my nieces are teenagers, they have joined us in deciding who the foundation should make gifts to, taking the same path that my brother and I did twenty years ago.
Read more about Len Betley’s legacy in our spring newsmagazine, available online here.
Up next: A tribute from a colleague in the business/philanthropy world
Ben Valentine
Guest Blogger
Ben Valentine is a founding member of the Friends of Marott Woods Nature Preserve and is active in several other conservation organizations. He leads a series of NUVO interviews with Indiana's environmental leaders, and he cherishes showing his son all the wonders of nature he grew up loving.
DJ Connors
Guest Blogger
DJ Connors, a Central Indiana native and late-to-life hunter, combines a lifelong appreciation for wildlife and the outdoors with a deep passion for exploring the natural beauty of the area he has called home for most of his life. As a husband and father of three, he is committed to ensuring his children have the same opportunities to connect with nature and appreciate the outdoors in their community. DJ’s unique journey into hunting emphasizes sustainability, responsible stewardship, and the importance of preserving these experiences for future generations.
Bridget Walls
Guest Blogger
Bridget is our first ever Communications and Outreach Intern. She is a graduate of Marian University, where she combined English, studio art, and environmental sciences in her degree studies. As treasurer for Just Earth, the university's environmental club, she helped plan events encouraging a responsible relationship between people, nature, and animals.
Jordan England
Guest Blogger
Jordan England is a lifelong Shelby County resident who graduated from Waldron Jr. Sr. High School (just a few miles from Meltzer Woods!). After earning her B.S. degree in Retail Management from Purdue University, she returned to Waldron to start a family with her husband, Brian. Together they have 3 young children and enjoy sharing with them their love of the community. Jordan is the Grants and Nonprofit Relations Director at Blue River Community Foundation, managing BRCF’s grant program, providing support to local nonprofits, and promoting catalytic philanthropy in Shelby County.
Cliff Chapman
President and CEO
As CILTI’s President and CEO, Cliff keeps CILTI’s focus on good science and stewardship. He’s mindful that the natural places you love took thousands of years to evolve and could be destroyed in a single day, and that knowledge drives his dedication to their protection.
Stacy Cachules
Chief Operating Officer
Among her many key duties as Assistant Director, Stacy has the critical task of tracking our budget, making sure we channel donations for maximum efficiency. When her workday’s done, Stacy loves to spend time with her two young boys—and when not traveling, she’s likely planning the next travel adventure.
Ryan Fuhrmann
Vice Chair
Ryan C. Fuhrmann, CFA, is President and founder of Fuhrmann Capital LLC, an Indiana-based investment management firm focused on portfolio management. Ryan’s interest in land conservation centers around a desire to help preserve natural habitats for wildlife and the subsequent benefits it brings to people and the environment.
Joanna Nixon
Board Member
Joanna Nixon is the owner of Nixon Consulting, an Indianapolis-based strategy and project management firm focused on the nonprofit sector. She currently serves as the Philanthropic Advisor for the Efroymson Family Fund. Prior to opening her consulting practice in 2000, Joanna was vice-president for grantmaking at Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF). Joanna has more than 25 years of experience in the nonprofit and arts and culture sector. She is passionate about the environment and loves bringing big ideas to life and creating high-quality arts and culture programs and experiences. Joanna enjoys outdoor adventures, including competing in fitness obstacle course races and hiking with her high energy Australian Cattle Dog, Jackson.
Karen Wade
Board Member
Before retiring, CILTI board member Karen Wade worked for Eli Lilly & Co. In retirement she volunteers for a number of organizations, including the Indiana Master Naturalist program, Johnson County Native Plant Partnership CISMA, Meadowstone Therapeutic Riding Center, and Leadership Johnson County.
David Barickman
Development Systems Manager
Born and raised in Central Illinois, David spent many days as a child wandering around the river, forest and lakes there. He works behind the scenes as a key member of our fundraising team. When not working, David loves to be outdoors hiking, fly fishing, kayaking or woodworking.
Jamison Hutchins
Stewardship Director
Jamison leads our stewardship team in caring for the land that is so important to you. He comes to our team after eight years as Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator for the city of Indianapolis, where his work had a positive impact from both health and environmental perspectives.
Jen Schmits Thomas
Media Relations
An award-winning communicator and recognized leader in Central Indiana’s public relations community, Jen helps us tell our story in the media. She is the founder of JTPR, which she and her husband John Thomas own together. She is accredited in public relations (APR) from the Public Relations Society of America, and loves to camp and hike in perfect weather conditions.
Shawndra Miller
Communications Director
Shawndra’s earliest writing projects centered around the natural world, starting when a bird inspired her to write her first “book” in elementary school. Now she is in charge of sharing our story and connecting you to our work. Through our print and online materials, she hopes to inspire your participation in protecting special places for future generations.
Phillip Weldy
Stewardship Specialist
Phillip enjoys nature’s wonders from an up-close-and-personal perspective as he works to restore the natural places you love. As an AmeriCorps member in Asheville, NC, he had his first full immersion in relatively undisturbed land while reconstructing wilderness trails in National Parks and National Forests.
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