My Brother John and the Pine Tree
When my parents bought the Weybridge street house in Middlebury, it was 1950 and the year my older brother John was born. Dad and Mom had planted a pine tree. I am not sure if it was before or after John's birth, but I know it was that year. At about 3 months old, John had his picture taken with the small pine tree.
John continued to grow and so did the pine tree...
At three years old, John was still taller than the pine tree as he posed with his older sister Patsy...
You can see the pine tree is doing well as Patsy poses; that is the Congregational Church to the right...
Since the pine tree and John were one, he just posed in front of it...
And the pine tree continued to grow through springs, summers, falls, and winters...(Benjamin's House)
Tom was born and he was posed next to the pine tree too which looks good at six years old...
Even I got into the act of taking a photo with my brother John, I mean the pine tree...(the cat was actually Diablo, son of Fluffy)
Even friends, like Cherie Bigelow, had their picture taken in front of the tree...
Look, there is my brother Tom with a fish, and the tree is big and flourishing off at the Culinary Institute of America.
I was the Junior Marshall for the MUHS class of 1974. Let's make sure the backside of the tree is doing well too...John is now working at the Dog Team Tavern and enjoying life watching Downpour play...
The pine tree is now cooking at Fire & Ice or Mister Ups...and is healthy and growing in character...
Then John meets a lady and they get married. They have a son Israel (here) and a son Jared. The pine tree is no longer the center of attention but has moved off to the side...
My parents sell the house to Tom and he adds a back deck, but the pine tree continues to grow at the left of the picture. But now other trees are starting to grow around it...
On my visit in 2015, you can see that Tom has had to remove dead branches from the pine tree (on the far left), it is not getting enough light to survive...
On my visit this year, 2017, I saw the pine tree was nearly dead. It was getting no light and the other trees had taken over. John died on September 13, 2017. The question that lingers in my mind is "Did the pine tree die because John was dying, or was it the other way around?"
John continued to grow and so did the pine tree...
At three years old, John was still taller than the pine tree as he posed with his older sister Patsy...
You can see the pine tree is doing well as Patsy poses; that is the Congregational Church to the right...
Since the pine tree and John were one, he just posed in front of it...
And the pine tree continued to grow through springs, summers, falls, and winters...(Benjamin's House)
Tom was born and he was posed next to the pine tree too which looks good at six years old...
John went off to high school and started dating girls, cheerleaders no less. The pine tree was proud and grew bigger and stronger...
Even I got into the act of taking a photo with my brother John, I mean the pine tree...(the cat was actually Diablo, son of Fluffy)
Even friends, like Cherie Bigelow, had their picture taken in front of the tree...
Look, there is my brother Tom with a fish, and the tree is big and flourishing off at the Culinary Institute of America.
I was the Junior Marshall for the MUHS class of 1974. Let's make sure the backside of the tree is doing well too...John is now working at the Dog Team Tavern and enjoying life watching Downpour play...
My niece Lori, born in Hawaii, throws her first snowball to impress the tree...
The pine tree is now cooking at Fire & Ice or Mister Ups...and is healthy and growing in character...
Then John meets a lady and they get married. They have a son Israel (here) and a son Jared. The pine tree is no longer the center of attention but has moved off to the side...
My parents sell the house to Tom and he adds a back deck, but the pine tree continues to grow at the left of the picture. But now other trees are starting to grow around it...
On my visit in 2015, you can see that Tom has had to remove dead branches from the pine tree (on the far left), it is not getting enough light to survive...
On my visit this year, 2017, I saw the pine tree was nearly dead. It was getting no light and the other trees had taken over. John died on September 13, 2017. The question that lingers in my mind is "Did the pine tree die because John was dying, or was it the other way around?"
That was great BJ I barley remember John but am sure he was a great guy like the whole family.So sorry you lost him so soon.I am sure the tree new.
ReplyDeleteThanks Joe. He was seven years older than me which is a great age diff. Bought me my first cassette player with a Rolling Stones cassette. He bought a case of Boone's Farm for me our Freshmen year that I shared before the Winter Carnival Skits. We (the freshmen class) were an embarrassment to the whole HS...
DeleteThat was so moving BJ. And seeing all the old photos takes me back in time. I remember swinging on a tire swing on a tree in your back yard when I was young, and the fields that were down in back of the house, being able to see my house across the river. Good times. I'm so glad ours was a time when we grew up and knew our cousins and extended family. So different now....Marcia
ReplyDeleteThank you Marcia. Memories are nice to have...photos just help me keep them.
DeleteBJ
BJ. What a moving tribute to John. Seeing those old photos brings back memories of our growing up on Weybridge St. Sad but poignant.
ReplyDeleteThat is because the pine tree and your old house are in a lot of the photos. Remember the crab apple trees you had. We use to through them around and get in trouble...
DeleteBJ
Wow, BJ. Amazing tribute to John AND the pine tree. Kindred spirits of a different nature. Hugs....
ReplyDelete