As the final segments of a 100-foot-tall cottonwood came down in a southeast Denver neighborhood Wednesday amid the din of chain saws, neighbors Lisa Speier and Jan Frazier cheered and high-fived.
But their celebration was bittersweet. Two weeks ago, a snow-laden branch fell from the tree, in the 3000 block of South Bellaire Street, killing their friend and neighbor, Virginia “Ginny” McKibben, a retired Denver Post reporter.
“It’s a wonderful day for this neighborhood,” Speier said. “Even though Ginny loved nature tremendously, I think she would have wanted this tree to come down. She wouldn’t have wanted anyone else to be hurt by it.”
McKibben, 73, was killed Oct. 10, after a freak storm dumped heavy, wet snow in the metro area. She had been sweeping snow when the large branch fell about 40 feet onto her head.
Since the storm, neighbors have rallied to encourage the city to remove the tree, claiming it was unstable.
Recently, Swingle Tree & Landscaping Care offered to cut it down for free.
“The tree has a lot of decay and hollows in it, and it’s a tree that by all rights is best to take out,” said Terry Schroder, a sales manager for Swingle, who estimated the cost for the service would have been about $4,000.
About a dozen neighbors came out to toast and cheer the tree’s cutting.
“I think a lot of people came just to say goodbye to this tree and to Ginny,” Lee McDonnell said.
Charley Wagner, an arborist and competitive tree climber, also donated his time, scaling the swaying cottonwood and sawing off heavy limbs for a crane to lower to the street.
“With cottonwoods’ genetics, just like anything, some aren’t as stable as others,” said Wagner, who estimated the tree was 50 to 60 years old. “This was a pretty brittle cottonwood.”
The cottonwood was rooted in McKibben’s front yard, but hung over the street and next-door neighbor Frasier’s home.
For years, some in the neighborhood avoided walking on McKibben’s side of the street in fear of the tree.
“We felt we were protecting the neighborhood by taking down this tree,” Frazier said.
