Tree carver crafts island’s latest sculpture

GALVESTON — A white oak planted at Adoue Park after the 1900 Storm died in Hurricane Ike’s storm surge in 2008 and now has become the latest tree sculpture to adorn Galveston Island.

Earl Sampson Jones, 55, of Galveston, was hired to create the sculpture at 12th and Winnie streets in honor of Fannie Kempner Adoue, for whom the park is named.

“The one thing she used to love to do is read to the grandkids,” Jones said. “It’s about how important it is to learn how to read, because reading is fundamental, the basics of all learning.”

Jones carved the tree, using a chain saw and other handheld tools to show Adoue reading to her grandchildren.

The Galveston Island Tree Conservancy and Adoue’s grandchildren commissioned Jones to create the sculpture.

“In the back of the chair she’s sitting in, there’s a big book with the story characters she’s read about, such as Humpty Dumpty, maybe the Arabian horse, and the pirates, the Cheshire cat from ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and the little old lady who lived in the shoe,” Jones aid.

Monday, he used his chain saw to craft a chair from part of the tree’s trunk.

“What I hope is, they’ll have reading sessions out here where the kids can come and sit down while someone in the chair reads to them,” Jones said.

“It’s been a great joy and a pleasure for me to do. It’s a blessing.”

The white oak killed by Hurricane Ike’s Sept. 13, 2008, storm surge was planted in Adoue Park just after the 1900 Storm, making it more than a century old, Jones said.

Ike caused widespread flooding and damaged much of the Upper Texas Coast. Ike’s surge destroyed 80 percent of Galveston’s tree canopy.

Since 2009, the conservancy has planted more than 8,000 trees to replace the 40,000 lost to the storm. It intends to plant 5,000 more in 2011 and 2012 as part of a five-year plan to restore the island’s trees.