That's the way she says it, just like that, with the straight-forward honesty and bluntness that come with being 100 years old. I'm a tree nut.
Trees are better than people.
Stearns planted her first tree, a golden weeping willow, when she was 9 years old in California and joined the Save the Redwoods organization in 1916. In recent years, she has personally and defiantly planted 3,000 trees on her northern Idaho ranch, which is surrounded by clear-cut logging operations. During a three-hour luncheon interview at the Outrigger Canoe Club last week, her wit was sharp and her observations astute. She was reluctant to talk about herself, but enjoyed sharing observations on changes she has seen in nearly 80 years in the Islands and talking about the value, both aesthetic and economic, that greenery brings to life here. For nearly all her life, she has been a champion of trees, open space and good urban planning.