PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A Maine man whose decades-long battle to save New England’s tallest elm tree served as an inspiring tale of devotion has died at 103.
Frank Knight said “nothing is forever” at age 101 when the 217-year-old elm tree finally succumbed to Dutch elm disease and was cut down in January 2010 in Yarmouth, Maine. He referred to the 110-foot tree, nicknamed “Herbie,” as an “old friend.”
Knight was the town’s tree warden when Dutch elm disease began decimating the town’s trees in the 1950s. He decided he couldn’t save all of the trees from the fungal disease, so he focused his efforts on Herbie.
Deb Hopkins, a friend, said Knight died Monday morning in hospice care in Scarborough and that he’ll be laid to rest in a coffin made from Herbie’s wood.
