President's Blog: From the Heart
As Long as the River Flows
By Eric F. Spina
Barbara Crecelius stood on a bank of the Great Miami River during a misty fall afternoon as the River Stewards unveiled a storybook trail that brings their colorful children’s picture book, Into the River, to life for families strolling along the bike path near Carillon Historical Park.
Although this is not the only storybook trail in Ohio, it’s profoundly meaningful. On one level, it promotes the need for all of us to conserve and protect the watershed. On a more poignant level, it reminds us to conserve and protect the legacy of Anne Crecelius ’07, Barbara’s late daughter and a beloved UD professor to whom the storybook trail is dedicated.
“This is so wonderful,” said her mother, who traveled from the Phoenix area for the dedication. “The River Stewards were very close to Anne’s heart. During her whole life she jumped in with both feet (into any initiative) — you couldn’t stop her.”
Anne, professor of health and sport science and one of the original River Stewards, co-founded the Rivers Institute in the Fitz Center for Leadership in Community. As a student, she helped imagine the concept for the Rivermobile, which traveled for nearly a decade to local schools to educate children about the Great Miami River Watershed before finding a permanent home earlier this year at the Boonshoft Museum.
Our University community will always remember Anne as a brilliant scholar and a dedicated mentor for her students who lived every day of her life with such zest. When she died of cancer in February at 37, she left an enduring mark at UD and on all of us.
“Anne meant the world to us. She still means the world to us,” colleague Corinne Daprano, associate dean in the School of Education and Health Sciences, said at the dedication. “She loved her family, and she loved the outdoors. She was adventurous and passionate, and she filled our hearts and the hearts of our students.”
Brother Ray Fitz, S.M., president emeritus, told the crowd that Anne’s days as a student worker in the Fitz Center and her life’s work offer lessons for today’s students. “There’s a challenge here to make a difference,” he said. “I have a deep love for Anne and love how you are dedicating this storybook trail to her as her legacy.”
As an intern with the Miami Conservancy District, Tessa O’Halloran, a 2024 River Steward and senior civil engineering major, helped write a successful proposal for a storybook trail grant funded by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. UD students assisted in the design and fabrication of a dozen colorful signs that tell the story of a young child who dreams of turning into a great blue heron, a beaver, a snapping turtle, and other species on the Great Miami River who need a healthy river to thrive. The lesson for children: “This is your river to love and protect” and no one is “too small to make a difference.”
The storybook trail pays tribute “to all the stewards of rivers around the world” as it preserves Anne’s spirit for eternity. The opening sign says it all: “Anne will be sincerely missed, but her spirit will live on in all of us as long as the river flows.”
(Photo by Terrance White '25)