Groundskeeper Eric

Summary

Uinta Triangle: "Groundskeeper Eric" – Bonus Episode Summary

Podcast: Uinta Triangle
Host: Dave Cawley (for Lemonada Media)
Episode Title: Groundskeeper Eric
Release Date: May 20, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this reflective bonus episode of Uinta Triangle, host Dave Cawley travels to Australia to visit Marilyn Kulstra, the wife of Eric Robinson—the Australian trekker who vanished in the Uinta Mountains of Utah. The episode shifts from the high-stakes search itself to an exploration of memory, grief, and the everyday legacy that Eric left behind at home and at Marilyn's workplace, Volkstone Primary School. Through Marilyn’s recollections and a tour of the places Eric touched, the episode becomes a meditation on loss, resilience, and the enduring mark of a loved one.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Returning Home Without Answers

• Marilyn’s Homecoming (00:54 – 01:33)
  • Marilyn describes the bittersweet and disorienting sensation of returning to Australia after the search for Eric ended without resolution.
  • She focuses on the exhaustion and emotional strain, ending up with Eric's few belongings instead of him:

    "It was sad because we went home with some of Eric's belongings...But basically an empty suitcase because I thought...I have the backpack to bring back and various other things. But it was empty. In some ways, it was exhausting."
    — Marilyn Kulstra (00:54)

2. Life and Marriage with Eric

• Building a Shared Home (01:51 – 03:51)
  • Dave visits the house Eric designed and built; Marilyn recalls their unique living arrangement over 11 years.
  • The couple’s solution to their different work commutes and lifestyles ultimately led Marilyn to sell her home and move into Eric’s, with negotiated roles and shared efforts:

    "He said, 'Well, you know, I live and work close by. I'm home 4:30, I'll do the cooking and the shopping.' So, you know, there was an equal sort of workload or compensatory activities...not a sacrifice, but the longer day or the change for me."
    — Marilyn Kulstra (03:28)

3. Eric’s Lasting Presence in the Community

• Eric's Contributions at Volkstone Primary School (04:15 – 06:42)
  • Dave and Marilyn walk through the school grounds that bear Eric's "gardener" touch—native plants, a frog pond, garden boxes—all still flourishing.
  • Marilyn shares the story behind commemorative bricks at the school:

    "I purchased one for me and one for Eric, and they were paved into that courtyard area."
    — Marilyn Kulstra (04:53)

  • Eric served as the school's groundskeeper for three years, bringing thoughtful gardening to both the physical space and the school community.

4. Grieving and Returning to Work

• Navigating Loss (06:59 – 09:36)
  • Marilyn talks candidly about the pain of returning to work, seeing Eric's gardens untended, and the comfort found in her school "tribe."

    "It really hit me that his absence was going to be felt here, not only by the people, but the grounds and the garden...His work had fallen into a little bit of disrepair, but that was, you know, a minor thing."
    — Marilyn Kulstra (07:56)

  • She interprets her own work as a different kind of gardening—cultivating a community:

    "You are also a gardener here, just not of plants."
    — Dave Cawley (09:34)
    "Yes, of children and communities and people and families. You know, it's full of memories for myself being retired, but also of the time that Eric enjoyed. Here you still have roots and you still have connections and you wish the space to still grow and flourish."
    — Marilyn Kulstra (09:36)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On returning with emptiness:

  "But basically an empty suitcase because I thought...I have the backpack to bring back...But it was empty. In some ways, it was exhausting."
  — Marilyn Kulstra (00:54)

• On partnership and compromise:

  "He said, 'Well, you know, I live and work close by. I'm home 4:30, I'll do the cooking and the shopping.' So you know, there was an equal sort of workload..."
  — Marilyn Kulstra (03:28)

• On commemorating Eric:

  "Eric's brick said Gardener."
  — Dave Cawley (05:12)

• On the school garden's resilience and Eric's intent:

  "They're all native plants and...hardy in a school playground because children can't help themselves, they have to go into the gardens...very much Australian plants that Eric knew would thrive."
  — Marilyn Kulstra (05:57)

• On grief and legacy:

  "You are also a gardener here, just not of plants."
  — Dave Cawley (09:34)
  "Yes, of children and communities and people and families. You know, it's full of memories for myself..."
  — Marilyn Kulstra (09:36)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:33 — Dave introduces the bonus episode and Marilyn's story.
• 00:54 — Marilyn recalls returning home after the search for Eric.
• 01:51 — Dave arrives in Australia and describes Eric’s house.
• 03:28 — Marilyn discusses the practical compromises of their marriage.
• 04:15 — Signs of Eric’s presence at home; transition to the school tour.
• 04:53 — Story behind the commemorative bricks.
• 05:57 — Details about Eric's school gardens and frog pond.
• 06:59 — Marilyn on leaving work for the search, then returning.
• 07:56 — The emotional impact of Eric’s absence on the school and herself.
• 09:34 — Dave and Marilyn reflect on gardening as a metaphor for her life's work.

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Episode Tone & Style

The episode maintains a gentle, contemplative tone—marked by honest conversation, small sensory details (like the noisy frogs and tactile plants), and the melancholic nostalgia of Marilyn revisiting Eric's projects. There is warmth and mutual respect in Dave and Marilyn’s exchanges, and a recurring motif of resilience—both in plant life and in human communities—running throughout.

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Final Thoughts

“Groundskeeper Eric” offers a moving, intimate glimpse into Marilyn Kulstra’s life after loss, and the tangible legacy Eric Robinson left for his family and community. Rather than focusing on Eric’s disappearance, the episode celebrates the ways he lives on in gardens, in bricks, in schoolchildren’s memories, and in Marilyn’s heart. For listeners, it’s an exploration not only of personal grief, but of the enduring power of love and creation.

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Transcript

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[Marilyn Kulstra]

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[Dave Cawley]

This is a bonus episode of youf Went a Triangle and I'm Dave Cawley. The search for Eric Robinson came to an end in late August of 2011. Eric's wife, Marilyn Kulstra, confronted an awful reality. She had to return home to Australia, not only without Eric, but not even knowing what might have happened to him.

[Marilyn Kulstra]

It was mixed because I was going home to family and Rachel too, to a wider network of support. It was sad because we went home with some of Eric's belongings because he'd left his passport and a few items at Julia's house. So I had those, but basically an empty suitcase because I thought, oh, you know, I have the backpack to bring back and various other things. But it was empty. In some ways, it was exhausting.

Filling my days with dealing and thinking

through what had happened, coming to terms with the Utah experience. There's no end to that.

[Dave Cawley]

When I traveled to Australia to meet Marilyn, I stayed as a guest in her home.

[Marilyn Kulstra]

Eric designed and built the house that I still live in now. It backs on to natural habitat.

[Dave Cawley]

It's that house Eric built after his first wife died. I talked about that way back in episode one, describing how he chose a place surrounded by trees with a creek behind the yard. I also briefly mentioned Eric and Marilyn lived apart for the 11 years of their courtship. Marilyn owned her own house during that time near her work at Volkstone Primary School. That job as a teacher, then administrator and ultimately principal of the school meant a great deal to her. It provided her identity and purpose, just as hiking did for Eric.

[Marilyn Kulstra]

And the school was growing and it was a fairly hefty workload.

[Dave Cawley]

Shortly before Eric and Marilyn married, they faced the question of which house to keep.

[Marilyn Kulstra]

We talked about him moving and living down at my place.

[Dave Cawley]

Eric came to stay at Marilyn's house.

[Marilyn Kulstra]

He moved in for a week and couldn't cope with the claustrophobic inner suburban lifestyle and the commute. So that wasn't going to work.

[Dave Cawley]

Eric invited Marilyn to Try the opposite, staying at his place.

[Marilyn Kulstra]

And I said, well, I'm willing to give it a go. So I brought a suitcase and I stayed for about a week and I was commuting. Now.

[Dave Cawley]

That commute added more than an hour onto Marilyn's already busy workday. A steep trade off. They needed to find a compromise.

[Marilyn Kulstra]

And he said, well, you know, I live and work close by. I'm home 4:30, I'll do the cooking and the shopping. So, you know, there was an equal sort of workload or compensatory activities to manage. The. It's not a sacrifice, but the longer day or the change for me.

[Dave Cawley]

They made it work. And Marilyn ended up selling her house and moving to Heathmont. During my visit there, many years after Eric's disappearance on the Uinta Highline Trail, I saw lingering signs of his presence. His books on the shelf, his photos on the walls, his plants in the garden.

[Marilyn Kulstra]

Eric loved the garden. There was always fundraisers at school. One of them was badge making. I made him a little badge with frogs on because we have a frog pond and the frog noise is quite loud in the garden.

[Dave Cawley]

Marilyn told me Eric had built a frog pond at Volkstone Primary School as well. I asked if we could go see it. So Marilyn drove us to the school. It was a hot January day. School wasn't in session, so Marilyn and I had the place to ourselves. We walked around the grounds and here too, I saw signs of Eric's influence. Tell me about the significance of the brick over there with his name and the brick with your name.

[Marilyn Kulstra]

There's a path area that was a fundraiser, so people buy bricks and they put the names of their family and students or teachers. I purchased one for me and one for Eric, and they were paved into that courtyard area.

[Dave Cawley]

Marilyn's brick said principal. Eric's brick said Gardiner.

[Marilyn Kulstra]

He knew it was a big part of my life. I was assistant principal when we met and he was very supportive through my growth and application and ultimate success in achieving the appointment as principal of the school. He took on the job of maintenance and gardener here at the school, which he sort of started. He probably did that for about three years.

[Dave Cawley]

Marilyn pointed out a garden box located in a breezeway between two buildings. She said Eric had built it in 2010, about a year before he disappeared.

[Marilyn Kulstra]

They're all native plants and they're designed to be hardy, as in weather resistant, whether it's too wet or too dry, but also hardy in a school playground because children can't help themselves, they have to go into the gardens they have to feel, they have to touch. So there's a woolly tree we call in the middle, which is very tactile as you run the branch through your hands, it's very soft and furry, so children love that. The other ones are acacias and grevilleas and very much Australian plants that Eric knew would thrive in a school ground. And clearly they have. They're doing well.

[Dave Cawley]

Eric's frog pond was tucked into a corner of the schoolyard. It looked a little overgrown and in the heat of midday, I didn't see any amphibians poking about. Marilyn told me when she left to join the search For Eric in 2011, she knew her staff at the school would take care of the students.

[Marilyn Kulstra]

The leadership team were a supportive, cohesive group and the staff a tightly knit, professional body. And so I felt that I was not leaving something to flounder in my absence. So I was able to concentrate on what was more important, you know, as in family and Eric at the time.

[Dave Cawley]

But as you now know, Marilyn's journey to Utah ended with the search being called off and no answers about what might have happened to him. In episode seven, you're going to hear about how Marilyn navigated the days, weeks and years that followed here. Though, standing on the school grounds, I wondered what it was like for her to return to Volkstone, to Eric's gardens and frog Pond, knowing his warm hands would no longer be tending that soil. Did you come straight back to work?

[Marilyn Kulstra]

No, I didn't come straight back to work because it was. It was still a time of grieving and shock and adjustment and there were legal matters to sort out here and you need time to do that. I stayed off work maybe for six weeks, but then felt the need to rejoin my tribe, so to speak, and eased my way back in the last couple of weeks of term. And, you know, as I returned to work, it was great to be back with the people, but it really hit me that his absence was going to be felt here, not only by the people, but the grounds and the garden. And it was in need of some attention on my arrival. And I thought, oh, that's sad. You know, it sort of. It struck my heart chords that his work had fallen into a little bit of disrepair, but that was, you know, a minor thing to.

[Dave Cawley]

But it's something that you would be attuned to more than maybe anyone, right?

[Marilyn Kulstra]

Yes. Yeah. Because I knew how passionate he was about it and how he loved that space for kids to be able to play and the community to enjoy, you know, well maintained you know, Australian native gardens. It was his pride and joy. He was very fastidious about the garden and he took pride in cultivating that and the love of that space, you know, with any in the community who are interested.

[Dave Cawley]

You are also a gardener here, just not of plants.

[Marilyn Kulstra]

Yes, of children and communities and people and families. You know, it's full of memories for myself being retired, but also of the time that Eric enjoyed. Here you still have roots and you still have connections and you wish the space to still grow and flourish.

[Dave Cawley]

Thank you.

[Marilyn Kulstra]

Appreciate it.

Thanks, Dave.

Thanks.

[Dave Cawley]

This bonus episode was produced by me, Dave Cawley. Our executive producers are Jessica Cordova Kramer and Stephanie Wittleswax for lemonada Media and Cheryl Worsley for KSL Podcasts. For more on the story of Uinta Triangle, visit our [e-mail] that's uinta spelled U I n T A. Thank you for listening.