In Memory of Doug Bovee
Doug Bovee, a founding member of the Orchid Species Preservation Foundation passed away on June 7, 2026. The OSPF honours his dedication as a long-time administrative member, volunteer, and respected friend. In his memory, we reprint the following interview, first published in the OSPF Journal, Volume I, Issue 1 (2023).
An interview with Doug Bovee, Culina Restaurant, Muttart Conservatory, Edmonton—June 8, 2016
Doug Bovee’s first interest in orchids stemmed from the television show Ironside, starring Raymond Burr. Doug was inspired that a man in a wheelchair was capable of making a significant contribution in his career as a police officer. Doug learned that the actor actually grew orchids on his own private island, and while Doug wasn’t able to purchase an island, his orchid acquisition began having acquired 250 orchids and renovating his condo’s bathroom into an orchid growing room.
Prior to the millennium, Doug was more of an observer than participant in the OSPF, but by 2000, Doug dedicated himself to the administrative end of operations with the OSPF, where he served as a Board member, then President. A few years later, Doug’s administrative skills were fully realized when he successfully raised enough funds, coupled with matching grants to build the greenhouse that currently houses OSPF’s collection. Doug continues to work on OSPF projects and programs.
“I have strong artistic talents, turning conceptualization and actualization skills into reality. That kind of personal relationship is what makes OSPF work. I often think with great gratitude of all the people who have been involved over the years and those involved today who have supported the organization in whatever way they could. One lady even prepared the Christmas banquet meal for all our volunteers by herself! The foundation grew as a social organization where people with a common love for orchids could work together. Today, we’re moving toward a professional organizational framework with our bylaws being revised to emphasize more responsibility, accountability, clarification of roles, along with documentation of the collection and practices to track the direction we’re going. We’ve implemented a new meeting concept where the members meet in short, focused sessions to discuss concepts and suggest directions for the Board’s consideration and thereby encourage democratic participation from all the members.”
Over the next four to five years, Doug Bovee would be instrumental in developing the OSPF’s first corps of volunteers that would work at the Muttart taking care of the collection. Doug Bovee was committed to the development of the OSPF, not only as a foundation promoting orchid conservation, but to the spread of orchid knowledge via public education. Until recently, the OSPF has been relatively unknown inside or outside of Edmonton. Doug’s spearheading of the OSPF volunteer program changed that.
OSPF Journal 2023 – VOL I, Issue 1
Author – Dave Nixon, President
Editor – Katy Nemeth