Monday's Internet Edition, October 06, 2008.
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| Doris Magnor looks at the 150-year-old liveoak tree that was uprooted in last weekend’s storms. At 5 feet, 4 inches, Magnor is dwarfed by the massive root system of the tree. – Photo by LARRY HAUK |
News editor - After a weekend of storms and hurricane like winds, Doris Magnor realized that her beloved 150-year-old live oak family tree had been uprooted.
Seeing the uprooted tree brought back many memories for Magnor, who had lived in her home since 1968.
Magnor moved to the Copperas Cove area in 1964 from Corpus Christi to run the Ready-Mix concrete warehouse. In 1968, Magnor and her family moved to some land outside of Copperas Cove off of FM 2657.
It was in the 80s that Magnor and her late husband had a herd of racehorses.
“My husband used to love to race those horses,” Magnor said. “We had some stables out there by the tree, and he would tie up the mares on a low branch when it came time to breed them.”
Magnor said her husband’s love for his horses would have him out checking on them everyday.
“He would race them somewhere out near Austin,” Magnor said. “He always took such pride in them. They were his babies.”
It was those babies that brought Magnor's’ late husband of 46 years outside on a Sunday 14 years ago. Magnor's’ husband had been outside checking on two foals that had just been born, when he passed away.
“He was so proud of those two foals. After church on that Sunday, he went out there to check on them to make sure they were doing fine,” Magnor said. “I remember him just smiling. He had such a glow about him that day.”
Magnor said that it was her granddaughter who was with him when he passed away. He had been under the tree when he collapsed. Magnor's’ husband was later diagnosed to have died of a massive heart attack.
“Christie just came in to tell me that grandpa had fainted,” Magnor said. “Of course we called 911 and I rushed out there and gave him CPR, but I knew he was gone.”
Magnor said that the experience always stayed with her, and that every time she would look out at the tree, she would remember her late husband.
“Sometimes it would only be a fleeting moment,” Magnor said. “Other times, it would be a long memory. I can look out there and point to the exact spot under the tree that he fell.”
Magnor said that with the recent uprooting of the tree, it just brought it that much closer to her heart.
Magnor has since remarried after her first husband passed on.
“I married my sweetie about 8 years ago,” Magnor said. “He has been wonderful to me. He also understands what I’m going through with the tree.”
Another memory that came to Magnor was when a cow they had was having trouble giving birth to a calf.
“We had this cow named Violet,” Magnor said. “When she was having her first calf, she was having such a time with it that we had to help. We always joke about it, because we ended up naming the calf hard to come by.”
“Of course after Violet had the calf, she would not get back on her feet.”
Magnor said that after conferring with neighboring friends, they were told that if the cow would not get up on its feet, then to just put it out.
“Oh we tried and tried to get Violet up and going, but she just wouldn’t” Magnor said. “So my husband, as clever as he was, made a makeshift sling and used it to pull the cow up.”
“He used that tree as the support and used one of the lower limbs to hold the cow up so that her feet just bearly touched the ground”
Magnor said that everyday for six weeks, her husband would hand feed the cow as well as test her strength by letting her down to see if she would stand.
“He would go out there everyday to let her down and check her,” Magnor said. “It was six weeks, I mean six weeks before Violet was back on her feet. Of course low and behold she went on to have several more calves with no difficulty. I believe she lived to be about 18 before I sent her to market.”
It has been those kind of memories that made the live oak tree a family member to Magnor and her family
Magnor also said that although she loves trees, if it had been any other tree that had knocked over, she wouldn’t have cared as much.
“It was that tree though that meant so much to us,” Magnor said. “All those memories that had been tied to that tree. It just breaks my heart that it’s going to be gone.”
Magnor said that since only 3/4 of the roots are still implanted in the ground, he son was trying to think of ways to save the tree.
“My son has been out there dripping water on it to try and save it,” Magnor said. “That tree is gone though, there is just no way he can lift that thing up and re-bury it.”
Magnor said that the tree would probably end up firewood for next year.
“We are going to have some really good live oak firewood,” Magnor said. “It was such a beautiful tree.”