I’d like to introduce you to Bud Gagner, resident at Fairwinds Redmond Retirement Community.

Gagner, 88, has been raising monarch butterflies right here in our back yard. He grows milk weed in his garden bed for them, and has set up a tent where the butterflies can live in peace.

When I asked Gagner, “why butterflies?” here is what he said: “They are an extension of flowers, they are mobile, intriguing, everyone likes butterflies.”

He’s been interested in butterflies since he was a kid, catching them in jars and releasing once he “felt sorry for them.”

He’s interested in all butterflies, but monarchs in particular, because they are becoming scarce or rarely seen in this area. He wants to bring them back.

So, he’s created an environment for them to succeed. He’s provided a food source (milkweed and pieces of fruit) and a safe habitat (a tent) away from predators. When those two things are available, monarchs can then be reintroduced to the area where they can proliferate.

He says when you raise butterflies in captivity, you cut out their mortality rate because you are in control of all the stages of their lives.

Gagner noted that when he first moved in to Fairwinds, no one thought of butterflies. Now, he says everyone in this community is “on him about the butterflies” — and he likes the attention.

Now, Gagner feels like he can make a difference. When residents and family members stop by the butterfly tent, he’s more than happy to put on a show for them. If children are present, he’ll take a butterfly, hold it upside down for 30 seconds, then place the “magic butterfly” upright on their forefinger and tell them to make a wish; when it flies away, their wish will come true. Residents and children alike are amazed by these beautiful creatures.

This spring, Gagner spoke to a kindergarten class at Norman Rockwell Elementary School; he brought each of the kids a milkweed starter plant and told them all about butterflies. He said the kids sat in wonder. He plans to return in the fall with more milkweed and butterfly larvae so that they can raise some of their own. To quote  the “Bud-erfly Guy”, “The butterflies are happy, I’m happier, and Redmond is a better place to live. I’m still a school boy catching butterflies.”

Randee Young is the program supervisor at Fairwinds Redmond Retirement Community.