MONROE - For 30 years, it has grown to become a singular, regal example of natural beauty. And each year, as winter approached, the Goecks family transformed it into a display of Christmas brilliance.
This year will probably be its last.
Inez and Herb D. Goecks' son-in-law, Bill Ison, brought them the tree 30 years ago and planted it in the front yard of their home at 1309 10th St., where they had lived and raised their family since 1950.
"It was just 3 feet tall," recalled Inez Goecks, who will turn 95 on Dec. 30.
Ison dug up the sapling near his lake house in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and had taken care to mark the tree's roots, Goecks added, so when replanted, it would be oriented in the same direction.
"If you don't do that, it will die," she said.
She and Herb always decorated the tree for Christmas, she said, and took down the lights every year.
But as the little tree flourished, it became too tall for them to manage the lighting alone. That's when Ison volunteered to return each year to do the decorating, Goecks said. Ison also started to include a little branch cutting and top tipping, as the tree started to spread its branches over the driveway, she added.
The tree is not covered with a modern-style blanket or net of lights.
"It has several thousands of lights," multi-colored, small bulbs, all in single strings, said Goecks. "And he (Ison) does a nice job of spacing them apart."
The tree is about 12 feet wide at its base and reaches about two stories high.
All those lights will come off the tree one last time at the end of this year. Goecks has decided to move to an assisted living home, and the family has agreed to sell the house, previously owned by the grandparents of Inez Goecks (nee Buehler), and its tree.
The mountainous display of lights, set one block off 9th Street, isn't visible from that main thoroughfare of Monroe, so out-of-towners and even some local folks might not have seen Goecks' tree.
Goecks regrets she never got it on the city tour of Christmas displays. This year, she intended to sign it up for the tour, but when a temporary illness overtook her, she missed the deadline.
Instead, she contacted The Monroe Times last week to offer an invitation to the community to drive by her home to see her tree, one last time -one last time to enjoy and marvel at how thousands of lights on a stately evergreen tree so gracefully heralds the Christmas season.
Just as it has for the last 30 years.
This year will probably be its last.
Inez and Herb D. Goecks' son-in-law, Bill Ison, brought them the tree 30 years ago and planted it in the front yard of their home at 1309 10th St., where they had lived and raised their family since 1950.
"It was just 3 feet tall," recalled Inez Goecks, who will turn 95 on Dec. 30.
Ison dug up the sapling near his lake house in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and had taken care to mark the tree's roots, Goecks added, so when replanted, it would be oriented in the same direction.
"If you don't do that, it will die," she said.
She and Herb always decorated the tree for Christmas, she said, and took down the lights every year.
But as the little tree flourished, it became too tall for them to manage the lighting alone. That's when Ison volunteered to return each year to do the decorating, Goecks said. Ison also started to include a little branch cutting and top tipping, as the tree started to spread its branches over the driveway, she added.
The tree is not covered with a modern-style blanket or net of lights.
"It has several thousands of lights," multi-colored, small bulbs, all in single strings, said Goecks. "And he (Ison) does a nice job of spacing them apart."
The tree is about 12 feet wide at its base and reaches about two stories high.
All those lights will come off the tree one last time at the end of this year. Goecks has decided to move to an assisted living home, and the family has agreed to sell the house, previously owned by the grandparents of Inez Goecks (nee Buehler), and its tree.
The mountainous display of lights, set one block off 9th Street, isn't visible from that main thoroughfare of Monroe, so out-of-towners and even some local folks might not have seen Goecks' tree.
Goecks regrets she never got it on the city tour of Christmas displays. This year, she intended to sign it up for the tour, but when a temporary illness overtook her, she missed the deadline.
Instead, she contacted The Monroe Times last week to offer an invitation to the community to drive by her home to see her tree, one last time -one last time to enjoy and marvel at how thousands of lights on a stately evergreen tree so gracefully heralds the Christmas season.
Just as it has for the last 30 years.