Community kindness deep rooted for Yarmouth couple and tree brought down by Lee

YARMOUTH, NS – Their daughter Kate and others had long ago carved their initials in the special tree outside of their home. But on this particular evening it was their neighbours, friends and the community who carved a place in the hearts of Yarmouth residents John and Barb MacDonald.

For as long as they’ve lived at the corner of Aberdeen and Forest streets – and even long before that – the massive beech tree has stood majestically in front of their home, providing shade and beauty for the MacDonald family and the neighbourhood.

But then an unwelcome guest had other thoughts.

A large section of the tree was brought down by post-tropical storm Lee in the early hours of Saturday, Sept. 16 – falling across Forest Street and leaving the street impassable until crews could clean it up.

A sad loss

“I thought the tree was just as solid as the Rock of Gibraltar. That Saturday morning around 7 o’clock, it almost sounded like if you ripped a sheet apart,” said John MacDonald. “It was the branch on the far side. That’s the nature of how a beech tree grows – it grows as a series of trunks together. It had ripped off and fallen across the street.”

The Town of Yarmouth was actually spared any major damage from Lee. Originally on track for where the storm would make landfall – it made landfall on Long Island, Digby County, instead – there was only minimal damage and little to no power outages. A large section of another tree fell across Parade Street in the town. Then this one from the MacDonalds’ property fell across Forest Street. Town public works crews responded to those situations on the weekend.

But while there was little damage overall in the town from Lee, there was cleanup for the MacDonalds.

Because the tree was on their property, the MacDonalds were notified by the town that the final cleanup of the tree debris was their responsibility. In association with Lee, the town had also posted, on its social media, about the responsibility of property owners to deal with any downed trees and branches.

Of course, neither John nor Barb had the physical ability themselves to clean up all of the massive mess.

And that’s where the community came in.

Family friend Rob MacLeod put out a Facebook post on Sept. 19 sharing the predicament the couple found themselves in.

He encouraged people to turn out the next evening to help out the MacDonalds.

And turn out they did.

On the evening of Sept. 20 dozens of people of all ages – neighbours, friends and others – showed up with chainsaws, gloves, rakes, trailers and willpower to clean up the fallen tree limbs, trunk, and branches.

“They needed help, and this is the result,” MacLeod said about why he made the Facebook post. He said it was inspiring to see how many people turned out to help John and Barb.

Asked what he hoped was the biggest takeaway, MacLeod said, “To know that our seniors need help, that it’s okay to ask for help, and for others to team up and get it done.”

Of course, as eager as people were to pitch in and pick up, they also faced with some pretty heavy sections of tree.

Yarmouth resident Derek Lesser, who is also a town councillor, knew that would pose some problems. He enlisted the volunteer help of his son Danny LeBlanc, who owns the business D. LeBlanc Excavation & Trucking, to help with the tree debris removal.

LeBlanc donated his time, bringing an excavator and a dump trailer as reinforcements.

“It was obviously too much work for a family to take on. I drove by and saw some of the larger pieces and thought there is no way people are going to be able to lift that,” said Lesser, noting his son was more than happy to help.

As were many others.

Mac Robicheau is a family friend who also lives on the street.

“This is what friends and neighbours are for … everybody helping, and you get results,” he said, saying that’s not just the Yarmouth or Nova Scotia way, but the Maritime way. “Everybody pulls together.”

There was also some repurposing happening.

Rosemary Guyette said coincidentally her students were recently talking about wanting to have an adventure playground at their school. So not only was she helping the MacDonalds with the tree debris removal, but they said she could take some tree trunk pieces to repurpose in the playground.

Off-ice help

By far the biggest squeal of the evening from Barb MacDonald came when she saw players from the Yarmouth Jr. A Mariners hockey team making their way up Forest Street to help out with the cleanup.

The MacDonalds have been season ticket holders and huge team supporters since the team came to town around 20 years ago.

Their continuous support is not lost on the team.

Mariners team trainer Tessa Churchill-Morehouse had already volunteered to take part in this cleanup when she thought to herself, “I know where I can get a lot more helping hands.”

She messaged team head coach Laurie Barron asking if it would be okay to bring the players along. Of course, he was on board for that.

“It means a lot to the boys, all the fan support. Sometimes there are certain people that stand out ­– Barb and John stand out,” Churchill-Morehouse said. “I thought, what a wonderful thing for our boys to be involved in.”

The MacDonalds were already known to a lot of the players, and not just for their fan support.

“When I was talking to all of the boys on the way here, they were saying, ‘Is that the couple that is always on kiss cam?” Churchill-Morehouse said, laughing.

Too much damage

Unfortunately, post-tropical storm Lee is getting the last laugh.

So severe was the damage to the tree that the entire tree must be removed – otherwise it could come crashing down onto the MacDonalds’ home.

“We have to have it removed,” a melancholy Barb MacDonald said.

The family hired an arborist to take down the rest of the tree that they love so much. That too was not an easy process. One quote they received was very expensive – nearly $30,000, but they were able to find something more reasonable. The tree would be chipped up, but the MacDonalds also said anyone looking for wood could help themselves. The process of taking the tree down was getting underway the following day.

This isn’t the first time the family has lost a tree on their property during a storm.

During post-tropical storm Dorian in 2019 a large maple tree in the backyard came crashing down, pulling down a fence with it.

“That one came completely down. This is more of a slower, multi-stage comedown,” John MacDonald said about their beloved beech tree.

On the evening of Sept. 20, just a few days after the storm, the couple walked over to the tree, running their hands across the carved initials of their daughter and friends.

Also carved in the bark was the letter B, a heart, and the letter J – signifying ‘Barb loves John.’

Given the turnout to help them with the tree clean up, the couple had much more love to share as well – this time with their neighbours, friends and others in the community who were there for them.