The spruce arrived at Joanne Sunn’s house as a gift with simple instructions. Her uncle showed up one day, handed it over and told her to put it in the yard. Thirty years later, that Colorado blue spruce stands 40 feet tall, and on Nov. 5 city crews cut it down to become Milwaukee’s official Christmas tree.
Joanne Sunn told News 8000 that her uncle came by with the tree and suggested she plant it in the yard. “It’s been there for 30 years,” she said.
A tree that outgrew its corner
The Sunns live on Mill Street near 118th Street in the Park Knoll neighborhood on Milwaukee’s northwest side. Their spruce had simply gotten too big for the spot where it was planted, Joanne Sunn said, so the couple decided to give it away. “And now it’s got a little big for this spot,” she said.
Her husband, Al Sunn, put a date on it. He told CBS 58 that his wife planted it in 1996, and that the couple has decorated it every year since…