The Massachusetts widower who spent many years rising this yr’s Rockefeller Heart Christmas tree has tragically suffered a stroke that will now stop him from witnessing the long-lasting lighting ceremony, his household says.
Earl Albert, of West Stockbridge, Mass., is at present recovering in a hospital in Albany, NY, after his well being lately took a flip — simply weeks earlier than the Dec. 4 lighting of his beloved tree, his family members instructed NBC’s “At present.”
“Earl has been recovering from a stroke and is receiving nice care,” his household mentioned, including that he hoped for a speedy restoration.
“He’s trying ahead to the Rockefeller Heart Christmas tree lighting and dealing arduous to have the ability to attend in individual.”
Albert had donated the 74-foot-tall, 11-ton Norway spruce in honor of his late spouse, Leslie, who he planted the tree with again in 1967 after they have been newlyweds.
“We first used to embellish it when it was small, after which it obtained so massive that I couldn’t embellish it,” Albert mentioned of the now-towering tree.
Albert was first approached about offering the tree by Rockefeller Heart’s head groundskeeper again in 2020 — simply days after his spouse, a part-time faculty nurse, had died.
The household took it as an indication and Albert has since described the tribute to his spouse as “most likely one of many biggest honors” of his life.
The colossal conifer — which can quickly be alight with dazzling 50,000 multi-colored bulbs — is the primary Rockefeller Heart Christmas tree grown exterior New York State since 1959.
The tree is ready to be lit up and topped with a Swarovski crystal star through the “Christmas in Rockefeller Heart” occasion on Dec. 4.
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