The first tree that I planted was in 1984. It was a three foot starter my dad and I bought at Courtesy in Forest Park.
We plopped it smack dab in the middle of the front lawn. Our block was hit hard several years earlier by Dutch Elm so the trees planted by the village were all about 12-15 feet high.
Our little tree looked perfect.
Around 1989 my dad and I started putting Christmas lights on the ShepTree. By 1994 the tree was tall enough that I had to climb a ladder to reach the top. Towards the late 1990’s I used a pole with a hook on the end to throw the lights over the higher branches.
In 1999 the tree was a good twenty five feet tall. We no longer were able to decorate our tree for Christmas.
All the Oaks and Maples on the 200 block of South Lombard are magnificent. They create a canopy of shade lost in 1978 by disease.
Standing there fifty feet tall in the middle of 220 S. Lombard is the ShepTree. It gives shade to the family that bought the house in the late 2000’s.
My dad and I planted a tree for another family to sell lemonade under. Throw snowballs under and rake leaves every autumn.
Everything my dad did influenced how I look at things or how not to look at things.
He led by example… not always good, but that was left for me to decipher.
I drive the Shepkids past the ShepTree on occasion.
The seeds we plant will last a lifetime and create shade for those we don’t even know.
Examples are like seeds…. Plant them and watch them grow!
Happy Father’s Day Boys… hope the itching of Manscape Day has subsided.
