Reflecting the struggles of farm life, a tree grows.
Under adversity, it alters its approach to life, only to grow twice as strong and continue to thrive for decades, before finding its final resting place where it has always been.
A place of peace.
Decorated Prince George veteran Armand Denicola cut down his family’s Christmas tree for their newly-built house on the homestead in 1966.
“There wasn’t even Gyproc on the walls but we had a Christmas tree,” Doreen Denicola, 94, recalled with a smile.
“This story starts in 1964 while planning to build our new house at the farm on Foreman Road,” she said.
The Denicola family has been on the land since the early 1900s.
“We moved into the house in the winter of 1966 and of course needed a Christmas tree," she explained.
"My ever-resourceful husband went looking for one on the farm. As was his custom, he always left the bottom branches of the tree on the stump. He never cut it to the ground. As years passed the little tree grew and the bottom branches were always reaching, reaching, reaching for the daylight. It’s a neat comparison how the tree had to struggle and we had to struggle in order to achieve a new life. We were starting over and so was the tree.”
Mrs. Denicola enjoyed watching the tree’s growth over the years.
“It was encouraging to see the progress the tree made as we were making progress building our farm out of a bare piece of ground,” she said.
Soon a big stately spruce tree appeared bearing two trunks.
“It stood over 50 feet tall and it seemed a fitting testimony to the 50 or more years of effort we put into the building and production of our life here on the farm,” she said.
“Sadly in April of 2022 a very severe north wind tore our tree - roots and all - from the ground.”
Mrs. Denicola’s son Drew Larson wanted to honour his parents and knew just what he wanted to do. Armand passed away on March 1, 2019, at 96 years old, making Drew's plan an especially poignant memorial.
“It was always Mum and Dad’s tree,” he said.
The minute the tree fell, Drew knew he needed two good-sized logs for his special project.
“It seems the life of the tree and our lives have come full circle because our son has contrived a way to give our tree a very meaningful symbol of the life we built together, 57 years later, when the pace of life has slowed a little, the trees have been transformed into two beautiful benches – a place of rest,” Mrs. Denicola said.
“They are awaiting a place of honour in our front garden and just in time for Christmas.”
