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Lyre-tree Timber From Saharanpur to the US!
When Katie Jo Walter asked her upcoming, short-term alumni host in the U.S. if she could bring him anything from the hillside, Marlin Schoonmaker ’67 replied, “There is one goodie from the hillside that would please me more than anything from the hillside. I hope it exists. Actually, it’s a long shot.”
Marlin wanted a piece of lyre-tree wood in a specific size, cut, dried, and cured. Its purpose?
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Tim Larson ’67, who holds a PhD in forestry and wood products, was ready to carve the lyre-tree wood into a work of art to be auctioned off at the 2023 Friends of Woodstock School reunion. Katie Jo told Marlin she would try and left it at that. After Woodstock graduation she travelled with her husband Bob (consultant in the Woodstock Archives) to Saharanpur, where the wood from the lyre tree is being stored in the woodcraft workshop of Sabir Ali Khan, parent of former Woodstock School staff member Meenu Khan. (Mr. Khan says that over 20,000 people in Saharanpur earn their livelihood through woodcraft.)
Sabir graciously prepared the wood in the size requested and showed Katie Jo and Bob some ideas for items to be made from the lyre-tree wood: cup racks, small folding tables, wall hangings, pen holders, small boxes, and more.
When Katie Jo arrived in Seattle and presented Marlin with the lyre-tree wood, she got the pleasant surprise factor she was hoping for. That precious piece of the lyre tree even got to be a guest of sorts at a small Woodstock gathering Marlin held at his home with classmates including Gordon Van Rooy, Lloyd Claassen, Ken Waldock, and Max Marble.
If you are in or will be in the U.S., plan to attend the Friends of Woodstock IN-PERSON reunion in Tempe, Arizona October 27-20, 2023, and get ready to bid on Tom Larson’s lyre-tree wood art!
NOTE: Woodstock’s Advancement Office is currently working with Mr Khan’s workshop to prepare more lyre-tree items to sell with proceeds to benefit the school. Do you have ideas on the types of items you would like to see? Write us at alumni@woodstock.ac.in with the subject line Lyre-Tree Wood.
