In 1960, Christmas fate smiled on Rudisill School at Spy Run Avenue and Ruth Street and delivered its largest tree: a 21-foot behemoth felled in a community member's yard.

A student, Brian Davis, learned that neighbor Ab Franke was wanting to remove a 21-foot evergreen from his property. The sixth grader thought it would make the perfect Christmas tree for his school.

After convincing the school's principal, Brian and his father cut down Franke's tree and it was hauled to the school where it had to be set up in the gymnasium because of its size. A star, dwarfed by the size of the tree, nearly scraped the gym's ceiling.

Teachers did their best to decorate the giant tree, adding tinsel about halfway to the top and lights with 124 bulbs.

The original 1690 story is below. The school closed

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