Word: tree
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Government, motherhood and free enterprise have given the nation a Christmas tree with such sublime harmony it is a true wonder to behold. The tree was ordered out of a seed catalogue by a son-in-law. As an infant it was tenderly watered by four grandchildren. At age six the blue spruce (Picea pungens) was a Mother's Day gift to Mrs. William E. Myers of York, Pa. Transplanted to her front yard, it was smothered with loving neglect for 15 years. No fertilizer. No watering. No insecticide. No pruning...
Through her front window Mrs. Myers gave the tree fond glances and occasional nice thoughts. The spruce defied wind, rain, ice, insects, disease. It was 30 ft. tall when it happened to catch the eye of some Park Service men who were roaming round the country in search of a "living" Christmas tree to replace the one that was blown over last winter. (Yet another tree died the year before from Washington's heat.) For $1,500 and a place in history, the Myers blue spruce was sent to serve its country, but not without a parting ritual that...
Bill Ruback of the National Park Service took his best men to join forces with a crew from the Davey Tree Expert Co., low bidders (about $9,000) on the 120-mile moving job. They arrived with backhoe, crane, tractor trailer, chain, wire and a burlap tarp made in Baltimore just for this tree. They were met with 90 qts. of Mrs. Myers' homemade soup, dozens of sandwiches, gallons of coffee and enough neighborly warmth to discourage winter...
When the moment came to slip on the special burlap tarp, Mrs. Myers went up and put her hand on the tree and cried. An undertaker from their hamlet of Shiloh had asked Mr. Myers if he wanted to have a little service for the tree, but Mr. Myers declared firmly, "No, this is one you are not going...
...With the tree packed and on its trailer, the 90 qts. of soup consumed, the four great-grandchildren excused from school, the moment came to say goodbye. There was so much hugging and kissing that it looked like a family reunion breaking up. And that was sort of what it was. Mrs. Myers prayed for her tree and a safe journey...