Celebration of a Local Hero – Steve Carara, Visionary Down-to-earth Gardener

By Anna Pier

For nearly 17 years Steve Carara was the manager, the main worker, and the mind behind the garden at the Sonoma Garden Park. His death from heart failure on May 13 has been felt by all associated with the Garden. Rebecca Kelly, who worked with Steve the last two years as assistant manager, says that everyone who knows the Garden can feel that he is not there any more. Kelly added that she could never have imagined someone as dedicated as he was.

Describing him as “the best co-worker I ever had,” she explained that he would research and figure out at night how to do something new to him. She attributed amazing ingenuity to him, adding that she used to say that if Steve couldn’t do it, she assumed it couldn’t be done. Kelly affirmed that he was behind what the Garden Park is today, the vision, the infrastructure, the plants and the work entailed. His wife, Sue Carara, related that Steve made a spreadsheet at the start of each  new year, to outline all the work to be done in the Garden the upcoming year. And he did much of the work himself, including installing the irrigation, the sidewalks, many of the garden boxes. But, his co-worker said, when people expressed appreciation for the Park,“He modeled humility,” always crediting his crew of four regular volunteers, men like him in their 70s who come every week to work there, and all the other volunteers. 

Kelly continued, “It was a very profound experience to work with him. “He was a good soul, a good guy, and caretaker of a place so uniquely special that his effect hit and rippled out to hundreds of people.” Carara’s wife Susan confirmed this, relating that time and again when they were out somewhere together, someone she didn’t know – often a young person or a child – would greet him, “Hi, Steve.” 

In an interview with the Sun in 2017, Steve Carara spoke about the importance of helping children learn about how their food grows, lamenting that today’s children don’t know peach or plum season, because of the year round availability in stores of fruits and vegetables. He encouraged the creation of the elementary school visits to the Garden, loved showing those groups around, and enjoyed working with the older Sonoma Ecology Center Enviroleaders students.

In that same interview, he mused that probably most of the people in Sonoma don’t know about the Garden Park. He went on to describe it, “open seven days a week, where people can come and enjoy seeing gardening, beekeeping, chicken-raising, fruit-growing,” He might have added that he himself was available seven days a week, either at the Garden, or on call for any problem that arose. 

Even when he was feeling the symptoms of his diagnosed metastatic cancer, he kept up his work at the Garden. As his wife Sue told one of the main volunteers who was worried about Steve’s health, “He’s not going to stop going to the Garden. That’s his life.”  Thinking about her husband and best friend of almost 45 years, she explained that what he did at the Garden, showing up every day and doing whatever it was that needed to be done, “was how he was. It was in his nature to help to take care of things.” This character was clearest in the raising of their daughter Lauren. “He was always there for her.”

Carara was born in San Francisco September 12, 1947, where he spent his early years, and did his first gardening with his mother. He grew up in Burlingame, graduated from Santa Clara University, and spent many years as a business systems analyst and manager in the aerospace industry down the peninsula. In the 2017 interview, he said that he had always wanted to work outdoors. After retirement, he and his wife moved to Sonoma in 2011, and Steve began volunteering every day at the Garden Park. This eventually turned into an official job with stipend, but his contribution to the Garden was invaluable. 

Steve Carara’a life will be celebrated at a memorial for family and friends at the Sonoma Garden Park on Sunday, August 2 from 12:00 – 2:00.

The Sonoma Garden Park, 19996 Seventh St East, consists of 6-1/2 acres willed to the City of Sonoma for a garden for the benefit of the community by the retired teacher Pauline Bond. The entire property is under the direction and management of the Sonoma Ecology Center.