About three years ago a new couple moved into our neighborhood. They had bought the Herb Strohl place, and Mike, a college prof, introduced himself. He said he and his wife Carola wanted to plant trees on the property and keep the land in a natural state.
We came to know Mike fairly well. He was an environmentalist who cared about his footprint on the land. This Sunday afternoon he and his wife Carola stopped by to ask me if I knew of a tractor for sale. The specifications were that it had to be small and inexpensive. Carola told me, “We thought the famous Roy Christman would know of one.” I laughed, but she was one of those people to whom one feels an immediate kinship. We went on to talk about Harris sparrows and snowy owls.
I didn’t know of any tractors, but I put aside my latest copy of Lancaster Farming, a newspaper which has ads for all kinds of farm equipment. It was sitting on our radiator this afternoon when I brought in today’s Times News and read that Carola had been killed in a crash on 209 between Nesquehoning and Jim Thorpe and that Mike was in critical condition.
I am still in shock.
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