FROM BRANCHES TO BENCHES: The Making of the Centennial Hooker Oak Benches

Paul Atkins moved to Chico with his family in 1961. They would picnic near the Hooker Oak and Paul fondly remembers the iron cabling and props that

struggled to keep the huge limbs of the Hooker Oak from collapsing. But what Paul remembers also is the limbs reaching for life, its shape and beauty.

The Hooker Oak fell during a windstorm on May 1, 1977. Paul played a part in preserving some of the wood into a commemorative bench which 

resides in the Chico History Museum, on loan from the City of Chico