30-foot date palm to be replanted on finished East Span
By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter
Since before David and Karen Horn moved to 420 Raymond Drive, a Canary Island date palm has been one of the attractive features of their yard.
It was small when the couple moved here in 1988, but it has grown to nearly 30 feet tall. “I took really good care of it,” David Horn said.
When they learned the tree was a female, and its dates readily sprouted into baby palms, Karen named it “Eve.”
The tree has grown so impressively that last July the couple received a note from Dave McDaniel, a palm tree scout, asking if the Horns would be willing to let their tree be among 30 carefully chosen palms planted at the Bay Bridge now that the long-awaited East Span is in place.
It was no easy decision for the Horns, for whom the tree is one of many reminders of their daughter, Hayley, who died in 2003.
Hayley Horn had an exceptional life that was cut short by cystic fibrosis at the beginning of her senior year at Benicia High School.
It was a disease she battled even before she was born, her father said. The girl made such an impact on Benicia — and beyond — that the school’s performance arts center bears her name, as does a garden.
She defied her illness to become a drummer in the school band, then to become invited to several concerts as a special guest performer by the rock band Smash Mouth.
When the high school band was invited to perform in the Rose Bowl Parade, she joined for a portion of the march.
Hayley was told she couldn’t participate once past the array of television cameras. Typically, she circumvented the directive to return to the band to march in front of the section that held thousands of Benicia residents who had traveled to Pasadena for the parade.
Horn was on the verge of receiving a partial lung transplant when her own lungs “popped,” as her father described the event.
Hardworking paramedics kept her alive long enough to reach a hospital, but her lungs suffered repeated failures. Despite intense medical intervention, she died.
Her last communication with her parents was a single finger salute that she had transformed from a common insult to a special sign of love, understood by friends and family alike.
Among her many treatments as she fought the effects of cystic fibrosis was a surgery that left her with a horizontal scar on her midsection. She was so young, she called it her “scarf.”
Ironically, while David Horn meticulously cared for the majestic palm tree in his yard, he once pruned it too deeply. The tree developed its own “scarf.”
If McDaniel noticed the blemish at all, it didn’t take away from his admiration for the tree, which will be among the palms past the bridge toll booth in an area inaccessible to pedestrians.
He’s been searching for Canary Island palms throughout California for the Bay Bridge project. The first of the trees came from Rancho Cordova. McDaniel told the Horns he finds candidates by driving around and searching aerial photographs. Sometimes he advertises online.
Decorating the bridge with palms is part of a $900,000 Caltrans landscaping project that has earmarked $15,000 for the purchase, installation and three years’ maintenance of each tree.
It’s because their palm will decorate the Bay Bridge that the Horns agreed to let the tree be extracted from their yard.
“It’s iconic, and it will be so beautiful there,” David Horn said. “We wouldn’t give it up for anyone else.”
“It’s quite an honor,” Karen Horn said.
The tree’s removal is expected to take place Tuesday, when McDaniels’s company brings in a crane to work the tree free from the ground and carry it westward to Oakland.
But the preparation for moving day has been extensive and meticulous, David Horn said.
“Eve” had to pass a health test, because some palms have contracted a lethal fungal disease spread through careless pruning with contaminated tools.
That disease has reached the palms planted along San Francisco’s Embarcadero, Horn said.
Subsequent preparation for the move had to be done using tools that were scrubbed clean and treated with decontaminants, Horn said. They needed to be as sterile as if the palm were about to undergo a hospital operation.
The most recent sign that something is happening is that a deep trench dug at a depth of 4 feet or more all around the tree, to protect the root ball when the crane begins to remove the tree.
That trench was dug by hand, not by machine, Horn said.
The couple has no plans to leave the space vacant once “Eve” has been transported to its new home. After all, Benicia is a Tree City and an Arbor Day celebrant, he noted, and the removal of such a notable tree means another must be put in its place.
While the Horns have kept a baby tree that has grown from one of “Eve’s” dates, they’ve chosen an entirely different tree type to be the palm’s successor.
They told McDaniels they want a fantasy crapemyrtle with a multi-trunk.
“Dave said he will pick the best one he can find,” Horn said. Unlike the palm, which Horn called an “everdrop,” because of its tendency to shed all year long, the crapemyrtle will shed leaves and flowers only occasionally.
The fantasy produces white flowers, and its cinnamon-tan bark is variegated, he said, making it a beautiful successor to “Eve.”
While the Horns won’t be watching their tree being planted, Caltrans is recording the Bay Bridge landscaping project and they anticipate watching YouTube to see their tree being put in place.
They’ll know their tree by its “scarf.”
“We’ll know our tree,” Horn said. “It’s the most majestic palm!”
Leslie Whitney says
Eve was such a beautiful part of our neighborhood, and I’ll miss seeing her every day as I drive to and from my house. But what an honor to be moved to her new special home, where so many can see and admire her now. Just like Haley’s beauty and influence extended so far beyond our neighborhood, so will Eve’s. FYI, our neighborhood has contributed several special trees, as our city’s Christmas tree at the foot of First Street originally lived across the street from me on DeBenedetti Court.
petrbray says
How great a story! Hayley will be most proud of your decision. Deepest sympathies for your loss of Hayley, we lost Michelle, 40, in 2007 to an aggressive cancer, Cathy, 44 in 2012 to Crohn’s Disease. We are still activists in both arenas. Our hearts are with you! Peter Bray and Janice-Jaffe Bray…pb
Linda Ribera says
Heartwarming story indeed. (Thanks for sending it to us, Miriam!) And thanks to you, David and Karen, for giving such a generous gift, of great sentimental value, to the rest of us who travel across the Bay Bridge. I pass that way frequently–and now that I know the story, I’ll think of you, and of Hayley, (and of the Canary Islands where I lived for many years), each time I see your majestic palm.
Hugs,
Linda Ribera
Laura Silverman says
Such a beautiful gesture! My heart is full. xo
Kristen & Julio says
A very lucky Bay Bridge to be graced by Eve’s beauty for all passerby’s to enjoy.
Kelly says
What an inspiring and beautiful story. You and Karen are truly amazing people who have made a huge impact on everyone’s lives you come in contact with. The tree is breathtaking and will be a beautiful addition to the bay bridge; ever since last Sunday when I saw the first trees that were added I thought of you and will always think of you, Karen and Hayley when I go that route. Thank you for sharing such a touching story, for the gift of even more beauty on the bridge and being the wonderful people you are. Big Hugs
Jane Miller says
What a great story, and such a wonderful reminder of Haley. When I saw the Palm Tree, Eve, I wondered where it was. So, now on to a new home. How awesome for you guys to have such a fun story to your already awesome story. Blessings to you from the Millers in Mexico.