My Father

He would have been 95 today....Born in 1916 and died Dec. 15th 2001. He served in WWII and gave hair cuts and ran the movies while in the service. He spent quite a bit of time in France then. His father founded a tree business in 1910 in Cleveland Ohio in what was then called the Forest City. He and his brother eventually took over the business where it now is in South Euclid Ohio. My Dad had a degree in Botany and became an arborist gaining promenince as an expert in his field. He was President of the ISA--International Society of Arborists and after he retired he still did lots of consultations. My youngest brother runs the family business presently. All four of us kids grew up with a love of trees instilled in us and an ability to weed! That was how we were employed in the summers...at least my brothers were...I got stuck inside and consequently only lasted one day at that.

He loved the native sugar maple and red maples and beeches best of all. He once was quoted saying "We must learn hos to keep our green spaces from falling prey to bulldozers. " He was always sad to see trees just razed in bunches to build for no necessary reason. He was kind and gentle and good to his employees. Often he helped them with personal problems and they often sought our his advice. He had a very good rapport with the tree climbers and many came back to visit him after they had moved on in life.

He taught me to love trees and to have a keen appreciation for nature ...to look deeply at nature...and he let me ride along when he did early morning snow plowing so how cool was that! To make money during winters in Ohio he rose early and plowed snow from driveways! He was supportive of me when I disagreed with many during the Vietnam war years and I openly protested. I miss him dearly....Happy 95th Dad and keep on pruning those trees up there!