JoAnn Shade: Ashland is blessed by those who live for others
JoAnn Shade
Columnist
As a child, I remember numerous elm trees of our community being devastated by the Dutch elm disease. On block after block, beetles invaded the trees, and their larvae tunneled under the bark, creating pathways for a deadly fungus to spread, clogging the water-conducting cells of the elms. Two giants oaks have fallen
I thought about the loss of those towering elms as I read the words of retired UMC pastor Tom Snyder and his wife Kitty. They wrote of the deaths of two longtime Ashland residents: “Two giant oaks have fallen.” As the Snyders noted, Norm Sommers was an educator who helped shape hundreds of educators in his long career, while Joe Murray was both a lawyer and a determined champion of social justice who never really retired.