Broadway campus loses towering oak July 16

One of the community’s older oaks took a hefty hit from a summer squall last week, toppling outside Gladewater ISD’s Broadway School admin offices Thursday.
GISD Superintendent Rae Ann Patty had a front-row seat as the storm blew through about 5 p.m. July 16.
“It was not fun,” she said later.
Gladewater Fire Chief Tim Basham said his personnel were on alert as the weather roared in – “We were ready for it.” – but despite leaving some damage in its wake, there was no calls.
Multiple trees were felled, especially in unincorporated areas outside the city limits, including on Hwy.135.
At the old Broadway School administration complex, Patty knew the storm was incoming and initially intended to get out ahead of it before a surprise phone call from an old friend changed plans. The longer they chatted, the more the wind picked up.
“I decided, I’m just going to sit here and wait this out,” she said. “I’m sitting there mid-sentence when ‘Oh, my gosh, that tree’s falling. I see it falling and hear it crash.”
It was at that moment she realized it was time to step further back from the office windows.
“These trees are old, and they’re right there by the sidewalk, so they’re not deep-rooted,” Patty lamented. Fortunately, only one took the storm’s hit. “By 5:30 it had all blown over.”
A crew made short work of clearing the hefty tree Friday afternoon.
“I do miss that shade already.”