Trees Planted for People They'd Never Meet — Wines Park and Generational Sacrifice
Reading old issues of the Lehi Free Press, Paige discovered that a hundred years ago, families could sponsor a tree at Wines Park for a dollar or two — not for themselves, but for the people who would sit under them decades later. Many of their descendants still live in Lehi. Many who enjoy the trees today have no idea a struggling family planted one for them a century ago.
One of Paige's habits is reading old issues of the Lehi Free Press from a hundred years ago — a habit her family teases her about. In those pages, she discovered something quietly remarkable: a century ago, families in Lehi could sponsor a tree at Wines Park for a dollar or two. Not Christmas trees. The actual trees standing in the park today. Families who didn't have much gave what they could. They knew the trees would outlast them. Many of their descendants still live in Lehi — walking under branches their great-grandparents paid a dollar to plant. And many people enjoying the park today have no idea it was a sacrifice made for them by strangers a hundred years ago. Paige uses that story to frame everything she does in public service: you are rarely harvesting what you sow. You are planting for someone you'll never meet. That intergenerational ethic — caring for the future even when you won't see it — is the deepest current running through this episode.
Key Lessons
- • The best investments in community are made for people you'll never meet
- • Local history is often hiding in plain sight — in the bark of a tree or an old newspaper
- • We are always enjoying the fruits of other people's labors
Community Connections
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