Arbor Day

Whatever happened to Arbor Day? I checked the calendar and did not see it listed. I recall that is sometime in the spring. After further research, I found that each state has a different day for Arbor Day. Ah Huh! Now it makes sense why it is not listed on a calendar. Arbor Day in Ohio is on the last Friday of April. Well, now I know. When I was in school in "past years" (that sounds better and softens the blow than saying when I was in school in the 1950s and 60s), we always celebrated Arbor Day. Each year the senior class had a tree planting ceremony on the front yard of the school. It always looked odd to see one of the seniors wearing a suit and tie giving a short speech while other senior class guys were planting a small tree. A concrete tablet was then put on the ground in front of the tree stating the year it was planted. One day last fall, I took a walk in the front yard of the school. It was interesting looking at all of the tablets stating what year the Arbor Day tree was planted. They all said, "Senior Class of 19--". I found our class tree planted by my senior class in 1966. Oddly, after 42 years, it was just a small sapling. I wondered if its growth was stunted by being around cigarette smoke when it was a sapling, or it died and was replaced. No one seems to know. I checked this year's school calendar and did not see any Arbor Day activities listed for April 25, which is the last Friday in April. I suspect that Arbor Day has been replaced by Earth Day, whatever and whenever that is. Does anyone know? In addition, if anyone knows why the Class of 1966 Arbor Day tree was replaced, please let me know! There must be a logical answer. I sure hope so because now I am wondering if I am in some kind of a "Twilight Zone" time warp or something!