Mornings often began with Dan Russ birdwatching on his tree-lined property.

On cold days, he’d look through the kitchen window in the house his family owned for generations. On warm days, he’d watch from the porch overlooking a yard shaded by trees his ancestors planted.

Stream Los Angeles News for free, 24/7, wherever you are. WATCH HERE

He’d see cardinals, sparrows and blue jays soar across the yard, often flying past a 75-foot Norway Spruce that stood alongside the home’s garage.

The tree stretched so far into the sky that Russ attempted to convince his wife that they should rent a crane to decorate it for Christmas.

This tree, he said, could even be the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree .

“It just kind of opened up the conversation that this tree is big enough,” Judy Russ sa

See Full Page