By Audra H. Anders for The Aha! Connection
Vanderlyn Elementary lost one of the most beautiful trees I’ve ever seen on Tuesday night. Lightning basically tore it in half. My husband often remarked as we walked under it: “This is the prettiest tree in Dunwoody”. He called me with grief in his voice on his way to work on Wednesday telling me to check out Vanderlyn’s tree. My dog and I walked two boys to Vanderlyn from K-5 every single day under that beautiful oak for many years. I posted the following pictures on our Facebook page immediately. Many suggestions were made about refurbishing the wood for the kids of Vanderlyn. But alas, I rode by this morning and DeKalb County has already removed all the branches and all that was left when I last visited was a stump.
I assumed this tree was ancient, but Dunwoodian and former DeKalb School Board Member, Jim Redovian, told me that he personally planted this tree only 40 years ago!
