Decade after death, son’s tree lost in York storm
Mark Clark stands for a portrait Thursday in front of “Josh’s tree,” which fell during the previous night’s storm. The evergreen, in the backyard of a York Township house rented out by Mark Clark, was planted by Clark’s son Josh when Josh was in kindergarten. Josh Clark, who died in 2006, would have been 36 this year. (Photo: Chris Dunn, York Daily Record)
(York) — About 30 years ago, Joshua Clark came home from school with an Arbor Day-themed gift: It looked like a 12-inch stick, said his father, Mark Clark.
Joshua planted it in his York Township backyard, and he took care of it with help from family members. Over the years, the tree grew until it was dozens of feet high.
Family members called it “Josh’s tree.”
Wednesday night’s thunderstorms brought wind gusts of 50 to 60 mph across York County. Streets were flooded, wires were knocked down, and trees — including the one Joshua Clark planted decades ago — were uprooted.
“We really always looked at that tree as part of Joshua,” grandmother Lucreta Clark said.
That was more true after Joshua Clark died in 2006. He was 26.
On Thursday morning, 59-year-old Mark Clark got a phone call from Anna Wilson, who rents the home now with her husband, Larry. She told him that the tree fell down.
“I was hoping it was just a limb or something,” he said.
But he came over, and he saw that it had been ripped out of the ground at the root.
“I knew it was over,” he said, pausing. “But it lasted a long time.”
Lucreta Clark said she was glad no one was injured. “It’s just sad we’re losing the tree … It was so important to the family.”
She told Mark Clark that she wants to use bigger pieces from the tree to make Christmas ornaments or some other mementos.
Wilson has lived at the home for several years. She said she didn’t know the story behind the tree before. “I just know it was pretty.”
Around the county
Wednesday night’s thunderstorms caused problems throughout the region.
Rescue
A woman was rescued from her car after it stalled Thursday morning in floodwaters on Detter’s Mill Road in Warrington Township.
Firefighters with the Wellsville Fire Company said the woman was traveling eastbound on Detter’s Mill, which lies very close to the Conewago Creek, when her car stalled in the high water.
Emergency personnel helped retrieve her from her car, and she was safely transported from the scene. The woman was not injured.
The section of road runs along the creek bed and was covered with nearly two feet of water at the deepest point, firefighters said.
Flooding was reported in other areas of the county, and there was a small-stream flood advisory for York County through 6:25 a.m. Friday.
Tornado in Lancaster County
After inspecting the area, the National Weather Service has confirmed a tornado hit parts of Lancaster County in Wednesday night’s storm that swept the region.
There has been just one other tornado in February in Pennsylvania, the service reports. That occurred Feb. 16, 1990 in Centre County.
Outages
On Thursday morning, about 1,000 outages had been reported across York County, according to Met-Ed’s online map. That was down to about 260 outages by 6:45 p.m.
This article is part of a content-sharing partnership between York Daily Record and WITF.
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