Call Us: (260) 316-5997
A Family Legacy
Rooted in Four Generations of Tree Experience
Located in Steuben County, Indiana. Proudly serving Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio.
The Sevits Story
"A Family Legacy"
Before you turn to another page...
Most of our website was intentionally written to be professional and informative. But as Joe's wife and someone who believes that family stories are just as important as the work we do.. I wanted to leave room for something a little different.
Businesses are built with equipment, skill, and hard work. Legacies are built by people.
Joe Sevits Tree Service, originally founded as Sevits Tree Service, is more than a business to our family. It's a story that stretches across generations, filled with early mornings, long days, lessons learned, laughter shared, and an unwavering commitment to doing right by our neighbors.
I wrote The Sevits Story not as a typical "About Us" page, but as an invitation. An invitation to step back in time, meet the people who came before us, and discover how a family's passion for hard work grew into the company you see today.
Every memory and moment shared here is true. Every "chapter" has been written from the heart. I hope you enjoy, and thank you for taking a few moments to become part of our story.
Chapter One
The Founding of Sevits Tree Service
Every family has a beginning. Ours began deep in the woods.
Long before there was a company, a logo, or a name painted across the side of a truck, there was simply a young boy who loved the forest.
Mike Sevits spent his childhood and early adult life at Sevits Sawmill, working shoulder to shoulder with his brothers, Greg and "Duck," beneath the watchful eyes of their parents, Ed and Evelyn Sevits. Seven days a week, the woods became a classroom. The scent of fresh-cut timber, the rumble of old equipment, and the quiet peace that only a forest can offer became woven into who he was.
It wasn't long before Mike realized he didn't want to just work among the trees.
He wanted to build something of his own.
Then life introduced him to a beautiful young woman named Jennie West.
The two first met at Angola Motor Speedway, and their first date couldn't have gone much better. But as the story has been told by Jennie herself, Mike waited just a little too long to call her back.
Life carried them in different directions, and it would be more than a decade before their paths crossed again.
This time, the timing was finally right. Jennie became much more than the love of Mike's life. She became his partner. Not just in marriage.. but in every dream that followed.
When Mike shared his desire to start a tree service, Jennie never questioned whether they could do it. In a time when women were rarely viewed as equal business partners, she stepped beside him without hesitation. Together, they believed that hard work, honesty, and faith were enough to build a future. Looking back now, they were right.
By 1995, Mike and Jennie were already busy raising three young children- Robbie, Samantha, and six month old Joe. Money was tight, but determination wasn't. Armed with little more than a chainsaw, a dream, and an unwavering commitment to provide for their family, Sevits Tree Service officially came to life.
The company wasn't built on wealth. It wasn't built on convenience. It was built one customer, one tree, and one long day at a time.
Two years after the founding of the tree service, their family grew once more with the arrival of Noah.
As the children grew, so did the business. Supper conversations often revolved around trees, equipment, and the day's adventures. Before long, Joe and Noah pretending to "cut trees" with their broccoli at the dinner table soon gave way to a few memorable attempts at cutting down Jennie's beloved lilac bushes (much to her dismay).
For the Sevits children, trees were never just a career. They were simply part of growing up. Each child started work at Sevits Tree Service, and as the years passed, each child found a path uniquely their own.
Samantha answered the call to serve others through a career in law enforcement. Robbie's talent for machinery led him to Bandit Industries, where he helped build the very chippers used by tree companies across the world before later becoming a driver for Elmer's. Noah built a career working on the pipeline, though whenever he's home, you'll still find him lending a hand with the family business. And then there was Joe, but you'll have to read our next chapter for his story.
Chapter Two
Taking Root
Some children inherit a name. Others inherit a calling.
The little boy who once "cut trees" with broccoli at the dinner table wouldn't stay little for long.
Long before he was old enough to earn a paycheck, Joe was already spending his days at Sevits Tree Service. While Mike and Jennie worked, they would often set him in a laundry basket nearby so they could keep an eye on him. The job site wasn't just where he visited.. it was where he grew up.
As the years passed, Joe learned far more than how to climb trees or run equipment. He learned that hard work speaks for itself, and treating people fairly is never old-fashioned. Mike taught him the trade, but Joe's curiosity pushed him to learn from anyone willing to share their knowledge. He was always asking questions, always looking for a better way, and always dreaming of one day owning the business that had shaped his childhood.
That dream never faded.
Joe earned degrees in both Business and Diesel Mechanics, not because he planned to leave the industry, but because he wanted to become the best steward he could be for it. No matter where life took him, tree work was never just a job.
It was home.
As a teenager, Joe was active in FFA, 4H, and showed real talent on the football field. But when it came down to it, nothing pulled at him quite like tree work. Before long, he and his younger brother Noah stepped away from football all together, choosing instead to spend their time learning the family business.
Soon however, a new distraction came to be.
Lindsay caught Joe's eye. The two had met in school, where Jennie just happened to be Lindsay's bus driver. Ironically, Lindsay couldn't stand Joe and his big trucks at first. Joe, on the other hand, had already made up his mind. He wasn't giving up until he won her over.
It took months, but in the summer of 2015, eventually, he did just that.
Over the next eleven years, they built a life together rooted in the same values Joe had been raised with: faith, family, hard work, and a willingness to chase big dreams. While Joe devoted himself to the field, Lindsay's passion for marketing, branding and growing businesses grew. Those skills would become important to the family's future.
While Mike had gone in the direction of starting his own Tree Service, his older brother Greg had started his own Logging operation. Joe was very bonded with his uncle, and when God called Greg home far earlier than any of us had hoped, Logging became the connection that held Joe's uncle close to his heart. In his memory, Joe founded Sevits Logging LLC. What began as a way to connect to Greg quickly grew into a successful business of its own. Before long, evenings and weekends weren't enough, and in October 2025, Joe made the difficult decision to step away from Sevits Tree Service to pursue logging full-time.
Even then, one dream never changed.
Someday... He hoped to own the tree service he'd loved since he was a little boy sitting in a laundry basket.
Chapter Three
God Answered Our Prayers
Joe and Lindsay had spent years building more than a business. They were building a life together.
After founding Sevits Logging LLC in memory of Uncle Greg, the company continued to grow beyond anything they had imagined. What started as evenings and weekends soon became a full-time operation, proving that hard work and faith could still build something meaningful.
Then came their greatest blessing. In 2023, they welcomed their daughter, Arbor.
Her name, meaning "tree," wasn't chosen by accident. It was a tribute to a lifeline that had shaped generations of the Sevits Family and the legacy they hoped would continue long after them.
Today, Arbor loves riding to jobs with her Momma and climbing into the crane with her Dad, and proudly announcing, "There's Daddy!" whenever one of the company's trucks passes by. Whether she's carrying her toy chainsaw or searching for wildlife around the job site, she's already creating memories much like the ones her father made decades earlier.
As the family grew, so did another opportunity when Mike and Jennie were ready to retire. The dream Joe carried since childhood suddenly felt within reach. But dreams don't come easy.
What followed were months of negotiations, countless hours of paperwork, difficult conversations, and meetings with six different banks. More than once, it felt as though the dream might slip away.
After months of perseverance, in July 2026, Joe and Lindsay officially purchased the company Mike and Jennie had established three decades earlier. For legal reasons, the name changed from Sevits Tree Service to Joe Sevits Tree Service LLC, marking not only a new chapter for the business, but the beginning of a new generation of ownership.
The little boy who once watched his Daddy from a laundry basket, was now a Daddy himself and working hard to make his Father and the generations before him proud.
And somewhere nearby, a little girl named Arbor is pretending to cut trees with her toy chainsaw, telling everyone she meets about her Daddy's hard work. Perhaps without even realizing she was growing up in a story that began long before she was even born. And that story, well, it is still being written.
To the world, we are just the people you call when you need a tree to come down.
To each other, we're still just two goofy kids who fell in love, worked hard, chased a few impossible dreams, and were so blessed by God that we became parents.
We hope you'll stick around and become part of our next chapter.
This page is dedicated to the memory of:
Elmer Sevits, Bill West, and Greg Sevits
"To live in the hearts we leave behind is not to die."
-Thomas Campbell
Mike Sevits. One of the Founders of Sevits Tree Service. Joe's Father
Greg Sevits. Mike Sevits' Full Sibling. A logger his entire life. He inspired Joe to open Sevits Logging LLC
Ed Sevits. Founder of Sevits Sawmill. Mike and Greg's Father- Joe's Grandfather.
Elmer Sevits. Logged and did woodworking. Ed Sevits Father. Joe's Great Grandfather
William (Bill) West. Jennie Sevits Father. Owned a Hardwood Farm he left to Jennie
Gene and Linda Dyson. Lindsay's Grandparents. Veterinarian and Stewards of the Land.
Jennie Sevits. One of the Founders of Sevits Tree Service. Joe's Mother
Joe and Lindsay Sevits. Founders & owners of Sevits Logging LLC and owners of Joe Sevits Tree Service LLC.
Michelle Buehrer - Worked with Residential Lawns most her life. Lindsay's Mother.
Gene Dyson - Head of Fertilizer at Krintz Outdoor Professionals. Lindsay's Father
