By ANNELI FOGT

Editor

Earlier this month, an email came through to The Beachcomber with the subject line reading “A short piece.” The accompanying attachment told the story of a boy referred to as “Vashon’s Johnny Appleseed” who planted a fir tree behind the U.S. Bank building in town 45 years ago.

“That beautiful Douglas fir tree is decorated at Christmas time and has become the centerpiece of the festive season,” the email  from Gene Peretti read. “His tree planting didn’t stop with the Christmas tree. His trees can be seen next to the Thriftway parking lot, up from the Hardware Store, and other in-town secret places.”

The email then reports that “Johnny” is back on the island and “would never take credit for the beautiful trees in Vashon Town.”

“I thought as I approach my 89th birthday I would reveal to you all: his real name is Paul Peretti. I should know, because I am his Dad. Merry Christmas, Vashon.”

Paul Peretti, a counselor at Vashon High School modestly admitted last week after being pressed by The Beachcomber that he is indeed the man responsible for the soaring fir that has been lit up near Santa’s Cottage for many holiday celebrations.

“I kept it secret for years,” Peretti said. “My wife knew; some of my family knew; decades went by, (and I didn’t say anything).

The tree lighting was moved back to town in 2010 after a few years at Ober Park. Peretti had moved back to the island in 2006, and the 2010 lighting was the first time he saw his tree lit up. He admitted it was an emotional moment.

“They decided to move the tree lighting … to my tree. It’s kind of like my child,” Peretti said. “I know it sounds weird, but here’s this tree I planted, and Santa is under it, and there was a beautiful chorus, and I got tears in my eyes.”

The tree is one of six of Peretti’s trees that remain in town and were planted throughout the mid-to-late 1970s. He initially planted a total of 11, but they were gradually torn up to make room for parking lots or new construction.

Two large Douglas firs are at the southeast corner of the Thriftway parking lot; two are across the street from the Green Ginger restaurant, and one cedar tree is at the south end of town near the Vashon Village. He said that he is proud that his plan worked and that six survived more than 40 years.

“I looked for places where I could plunk a tree down and it wouldn’t be bothered, but it would be taken care of,” Peretti said.

His tree planting began on the first Earth Day in April 1970 as a sophomore at Vashon High School. The 15-year-old Peretti planted trees with his classmates around the campus as part of an event to commemorate the day.

Little did anyone know that more than trees were being planted as an idea sprouted in the boy’s mind.

“We had this huge event, and it got me thinking,” the now-VHS counselor said last week as he reflected on his tree-planting antics. “There was lots of discussion about the environment and sustainability, but there was also a lot of development going on in town at that time. I just got this notion to start filling trees in.”

He said that while he was in high school, Thriftway was undergoing an expansion; the shopping center’s parking lot was growing, and the park and ride lot near Ober Park and the Vashon Village were being built.

He graduated high school in 1973, attended Seattle Pacific University and returned to Vashon in the late 1970s to work for K2. That’s when the around-town, stealth planting began and he started transplanting trees from county ditches.

“I was a bit stealth. I planted on Sunday mornings and would dig them up from county ditches and bring them into town,” Peretti said. “I figured that if I put them at parking strips, they’d be taken care of, and they were.”

Paul’s 89-year-old father said in a phone interview this week that his “tender-hearted” son has always been fascinated with Vashon’s trees and the environment.

“Paul took quite an interest in planting trees, and my wife and I encouraged him,” Gene Peretti said. “I had this old truck, and he would take off with the tree in the back that he had dug up and go find a place for it. We wanted to keep it his project, so we didn’t say anything. This is the first time any of us has said anything about it.”

Gene Peretti said his son took pride in nurturing the young trees and making sure they were given a good start.

“Others gradually took interest in the trees like the Christmas one now that has been taken care of by others,” Gene Peretti said.

Paul Peretti seconded his father and said that the landscapers began taking care of the trees which then thrived, although his trees across from Green Ginger somehow became much smaller than his other trees.

“They’ve just been kept trimmed, so they’re more a hedge now than actual trees,” he explained.

He has been a counselor at Vashon High School for nearly two years, and he said that if he looks into the woods beyond the high school’s football field he can still see the trees he and his classmates planted on Earth Day 1970.

“Some of those (trees) are still growing behind the football field and are about 40 feet tall now,” Paul Peretti said. “Those are what got me hooked.”

His tree will be lit up by Santa Saturday night when the annual Winterfest parade ends at the tree around 5:45 p.m.