FORESTVILLE, N.Y. — Along with damaging buildings, the tornado that hit near Forestville on Wednesday also took out a special grove of trees that were the legacy of a well-known World War II veteran in the community.
After the roof on Jackie Coon's house on Prospect Road was torn off by the tornado, a stream of family members and friends checking in on her could be heard reminding her that the roof could be replaced.
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However, there was something else on her property which will be much harder to replicate.
An entire grove of of mature English walnut trees, the type of which can take almost a decade to produce a substantial crop.
Close to 20 of them occupied more than an acre of land, which were planted and meticulously cared for by her late partner Elmer N. "Casey" Crowell.
"He was somewhere in Pennsylvania, I think," Coon began to explain, about how the grove of magnificent trees came about 30 years ago or so.
"There were these two old guys who were sitting there and they were cracking walnuts and eating them. Elmer talked to them about it and they said they had one or two trees. And when he asked about how they grew them they said to take some nuts home and plant them."
As their time together grew, so did the trees that she and Elmer cared for.
"And at first, when he was here in a trailer he planted them, and then when we built the house he and I replanted them. We worked every year to harvest them. We would pick them up off the ground, power washed them, put them in the basement to dry, and then we'd crack them and give them away."
Up until he died in May 2023 at the ripe old age of 96, it was not uncommon to see Elmer in the grove admiring the trees, while probably never imagining his legacy would survive him by only a mere 14 months.
"And he just loved these things," Jackie Coon said.
However, when the EF-1 tornado creating path of damage 150 feet in width passed right through the grove, what took decades to nurture was destroyed in a matter of minutes.
Some of the large trees were toppled, while others were torn from the earth which once firmly held their roots and tossed 20 feet away.
"Just ... just like that," Ms. Coon said, her voice trailing off.
And just like that, Elmer's legacy was gone.
But perhaps not entirely.
Watch the video attached to this story to find out why.