She called him her “treespirit sweetheart,” a man she loved deeply for 28 years.

But a fall from a tree took him from her, along with some of the financial security they shared.

Hope Fay lost her husband, Bobby Stewart, when he fell while working at his tree-care service and died in September 2009.

Now the community that cherished the man who they all said “had a sparkle in his eyes” is holding a benefit to help Fay with expenses.

An evening of gratitude and financial support for Fay includes music and a silent auction at 6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 26 at Clinton Community Hall (formerly known as Clinton Progressive Hall).

The union Stewart and Fay shared was not only emotional and physical but intensely spiritual.

After meeting along California’s Russian River in the summer of 1981, Bobby and Hope knew they were of like minds and hearts.

“We had a vision of service together,” Fay said.

Stewart became the father Fay’s sons never had. He supported her in her quest to become a naturopath. When longtime friends Mari and Kevin Campbell asked them if they wanted to share 10 acres on Whidbey Island, the couple found the place where Stewart would finally realize his childhood dream of building his own home.

Following the natural spiritual path of their life together, the couple began discovering myriad ways in which they could serve their “relatives” in all parts of the world.

They traveled to Colorado, where the family took part in the transformative Sundance ceremony in the Native American tradition. Through this rigorous rite of passage, men traditionally reckon with the spiritual world alone in order to gain what is called “medicine power.” The power is ultimately not his, but rather comes from the ultimate source, the Great Spirit, and is given to him for a purpose, to be used in service to his family and community.

Judging from the many photos Fay has of herself, Stewart and other family members visiting with “their Sundance family,” it was a significant gift in the couple’s life together for the power of social responsibility they garnered from the experience.

Fay said their service began at Sundance and spread exponentially.

“At our home and community in Mexico, we have served families there spiritually and physically, aiding their endeavors to make a living through their skills and education,” she said.

“Then we became involved with the people of Zimbabwe through the Rubatano Center here on Whidbey, hoping to ease some of the suffering of our relatives there with healthcare, and education to improve themselves.”

In recent years, the couple also reached out to Native American men in prisons by sponsoring sweat lodges, providing a house of prayer, counseling them and supplying them with healthcare and other needs.

“My husband was a big dreamer,” Fay said.

“He had dreams to create a Native American cultural center on our land here on the island, where people could learn crafting, and about our ‘Medicine Way’ through ceremony and the sweat lodge. In this way, we would also be supporting our relatives who came to share their knowledge, and to continue the tradition as it was taught to us.”

Stewart also loved serving the elderly with his work through the Island Housing Authority, Fay said, and had designs on working with young people to teach them how to take charge of their lives and become self-sufficient, responsible adults.

The main idea was to “live more simply, so others could simply live,” as the saying goes.

Losing her husband so unexpectedly has created a challenge for Fay. She said she is trying to figure out how to carry on from where they left off together.

“Since Bobby’s death, my family has grown exponentially,” Fay said. “There are more people who want to help carry the vision forward as it feeds them, touches their hearts.”

Unfinished projects include a women’s learning and birthing center in Mexico and the goal to create self-sustaining communities in Zimbabwe.

“Bobby always said, ‘Build from the ground up, inside out,’ meaning don’t go out into the world and try to serve others when you are unstable yourself, and not taking care of your own obligations.”

In an answer to that call, the good folks of South Whidbey have come together to try and ease Fay’s burden of finishing Stewart’s dream of building a place for Fay to practice her medicine on the couple’s land.

“I watched Bobby, and saw the impact on the world he had around him simply by being himself,” Fay said.

“He wasn’t doing anything grandiose. Yet when he died, I was flooded with a wave of love and gratitude from all over the world because of how he touched others simply through ‘his medicine of love.’ That has struck me as a profound teaching.”

At the benefit, finger foods will be served and dessert items will be up for auction.

Musical guests for the evening are Nzira Marimba and friends. Suggested donation is $15 for adults and $10 for students; children younger than 5 can attend for free. Call Mari Campbell for info at 579-8348, or e-mail loghouse@whidbey.com.

Donations can also be with a click here, then enter bobbystewart under Website, or at the Bobby Stewart Memorial Fund at Whidbey Island Bank in Langley.