74-Foot-Tall Norway Spruce From Pa. Coming To Rockefeller Center
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A small-town spruce from Pennsylvania is heading to the big city to stand tall in Rockefeller Center.
Nancy Keller, 79, is donating a 74-foot-tall, 10-ton Norway Spruce from her yard in honor of her late husband Doyle.
Keller tells 1010 WINS' Glenn Schuck that initially her husband thought the tree was an eyesore.
1010 WINS' Glenn Schuck with Nancy Keller
Podcast
"He did not like that tree, he said it wasn't trimmed nice," she said. "So he got a cherry picker in and he trimmed it from the bottom up and they trimmed it from the top down and then he said, 'I like it a lot better.'"
Keller said her husband, who was an air force veteran, would be honored to have his tree become the most famous symbol of the holiday season.
"I'm glad that they're going to put it in memory of him," she said. "They're going to put it up Friday on Veterans' Day and he was a veteran. Everything is just falling in place."
For Mifflinville, Pa., which has a population of 2,000, the tree cutting ceremony turned into a town-wide celebration.
Keller said locals are now calling her a celebrity.
Her daughter, Debbie, is still in disbelief.
"I'm very excited," she said. "What can be better to be able to share your tree with the world?"
The 75-year-old spruce will arrive in Manhattan on Friday where it will be donned with 30,000 multicolored LED lights and topped with a Swarovski crystal star more than nine feet in diameter.
After it's lit on November 30, nearly 750,000 people a day will get a look at the great tree.
The tree will remain lit until January 7. Then it will be milled into lumber for Habitat for Humanity.
Sound off in our comments section below...
