The Editor,
The walnut tree spent its lifetime flourishing and growing at 941 Quadling Ave. in Coquitlam’s Maillardville neighbourhood.
It was already a resident when we moved to this address in 1956 in what we children thought was a rather grand house — all 850 sq. ft. of it. The house and the tree sat on a quarter of acre with a large garden and several fruit trees. The house displayed much character and held many memories but, throughout the years, the crowning glory slowly growing in the front yard was the walnut tree.
Just a few months ago, when I last saw the tree, it was tall, sturdy and rather majestic. You might even say it was the heart of the street. I would think it would now have been at least 80 years old.
Oh, the times we children had picking up the walnuts from the ground — hands all stained and the walnuts then dried over several days on newspapers in the basement. Absolutely delicious, a beehive of breaking the shells open and then eaten as is — these days, they would be referred to as “organic.”
The walnuts were often shared with many of the neighbours and the crows. Much to the delight of the neighbourhood children, the clever crows would pick up the walnuts, fly as high as they could and then drop them all over Quadling in order to crack them open. They would then swoop down to the roadway and have their fill of these delicious morsels. The question was always who would get the majority of the crop: the crows or us?
Little by little, change started to come. The last of the road was paved, more homes were built, new families moved in and the street was filled with children playing, riding their bikes, rollerskating, building tree forts. Now, the old homes are being torn down to give way to newer, rather large, overbearing houses with little to no yards, no gardens, no children playing and no room for walnut trees.
The old house was sold a short while ago and torn down. Surely, I thought, the new owners would find a way to keep the walnut tree and work it into their plans, but much to the sorrow one feels when something of such beauty is destroyed, the tree has been cut down.
So many changes over the years, Coquitlam now building halfway up the mountains and skyscrapers visible all over the city, but I still can’t help but wonder why a builder believes destroying such a natural beauty as the grand walnut tree is a good thing.
Monique Wahl, Coquitlam
