FAIRMONT — An orange tree purchased more than 20 years ago in California and planted in Fairmont by Leon BeCoats and his late wife Isabelle is overflowing with oranges.
Expected to be ready for picking within the next few weeks, the tree has been a labor of love for the couple — Isabelle, who died in June, was just shy of celebrating her 99th birthday. The two had been married for 65 years.
Leon said the two met and fell in love in Rochester, New York, where he worked for Kodak, one of the largest employers in the area.
“The guys I worked with; everybody would go out drinking after their shift,” Leon said. “Not me, I went home,”
Back in the day, Kodak was king of the film industry but in the 1990s began to sharply scale down its production when demand for film was replaced by the advent of digital photography products.
By then, however, Leon had already developed cancer, which later resulted in the removal of his voice box.
Still, speaking with a growl between breaths of air, Leon smiles when talking about his beloved Isabelle and the life they built in Fairmont.
He still runs the antique tractor hiding in the dirt floored pole barn behind the house. Collards went in earlier in the year and, like the 20-foot orange tree, are about ready for harvest. Blueberries in another nearby field have already been picked and will soon be the primary ingredient in a Southern favorite — blueberry yum yum. “I used to have hogs,” Leon said about his small farm.
It’s the 25-foot orange tree, though, that keeps his attention now. “With all the storms we’ve had, I’m afraid the wind may take it down,” he said.
If it survives, he’ll have plenty of oranges to keep and share again this year.