REMEMBERING A TREE PLANTER

DAVID BURST, TREE PLANTER...

...WE WILL REMEMBER HIM IN THE SUNRISE...

...AND THE GLORY OF THE BLUEBERRY FIELDS

...AND IN OUR FIELDS OF YELLOW DAFFODILS

Thursday, 8:30 AM.  45 degrees F, wind variable, calm with very light gusts. The sky is cloudy and overcast, the humidity 82% and the barometer currently reads 30.30" and is falling, predicting rain for tonight.  The daffodils are holding for the Bayfield in Bloom kickoff tomorrow at the Pavilion.
   David Burst, 57, a longtime employee of Jay's Tree Care, recently died of brain cancer after returning to his native England to be with friends and family at the last.   David was father to several grown children and a friend to many, many people, who knew him not only as a fine person but as a lover of trees and nature.    A modest,  gentle man of no pretensions, David would not wish a lengthy or sentimental requiem.
   But I cannot help but honor his work.  He labored tirelessly and professionally, for little in the way of monetary reward, in a demanding occupation.  Exhausted and in pain, particularly last year while in the iron grip of his fatal disease, he continued his work, virtually until the end.
   David's memorial will be the thousands of trees, flowering shrubs, and yes...Bayfield daffodils... planted with his own work-worn hands.  He will be remembered in groves of trees and fields of daffodils and all the glories of nature.
   David was my friend and kindred spirit, and I shall remember him each time I plant a tree.