Tree company helps Spokane Valley woman who couldn’t afford to clear windstorm debris

It has been a tough winter for Sherry Jarvis.

During the November windstorm a tall fir fell on her modest house near Fifth Avenue and Carnahan Road in Spokane Valley. And then in January, her husband, Robert Jarvis, died.

“It’s just been a lot for us,” Jarvis said over the roar of a wood chipper chewing up branches from the fallen tree this week. Jarvis had no homeowners insurance and no money to pay for tree removal.

“I just got used to seeing it on the house, I guess,” Jarvis said. Disabled and retired, she lives on her own now and relies on her son and daughter-in-law to help when needed.

On Sunday, she got some extra help when Ray McElfish Tree Specialists donated time and equipment to finally clear the tree off Jarvis’ house.

“Someone had to help these people, and no one else wanted to,” said Shannon Sullivan, owner of Ray McElfish Tree Specialists. “We needed a crane but couldn’t get one. We finally just went at it a piece at a time.”

Jarvis said she was home the evening of the windstorm, and the tree came down just as her husband went out back to feed the feral cats under their care.

“I looked out there and all this green stuff and branches were falling,” Jarvis said. “I told him to hurry back inside.”

The tall pine toppled slowly, sliding down another tree and draping itself over the little house, coming to rest across the roof.

Jarvis said they hunkered down as the wind howled and the remaining tall trees swayed above the house. Amazingly, the already patched roof held up. The only loss on the night of the storm was the TV antenna.

“But we couldn’t move the tree ourselves,” Jarvis said. A local TV station connected Sullivan with the Jarvis family.

“She’s just wonderful,” Jarvis said of Sullivan.

Jarvis’ daughter-in-law, Stacia Jarvis, said her mother-in-law needs all the help she can get.

“The house is paid for, so that’s good,” Stacia Jarvis said. “We help her out the best we can.”

Jarvis made Sullivan a butterfly necklace with matching earrings as a show of appreciation and gratitude.

Monday morning Jarvis still couldn’t believe the tree was gone.

“All I could do was make her the earrings,” Jarvis said.

Sullivan got teary-eyed every time she looked at the jewelry.

“I think it’s the best payment I’ve ever gotten,” she said.