By Anne W. Semmes
Last Sunday, at the memorial service for John Conte, a noted embracer of trees, brought new life in the replacing of a lost elm tree long heralded before the First Church of Round Hill with a new Valley Forge Elm tree with its plaque to read, “In Memory of John R. Conte, Jr., 1959-2025.”
Standing beside that young tree acquired by the Sam Bridge Nursery, before a gathering of family and friends spoke Leslie Lee who had stepped up as interim president of the Greenwich Tree Conservancy (GTC) with the sudden death of Conte in April, his having become GTC director only this January. Lee thanked First Church for “their gracious hosting” of the memorial service. First Church indeed was the site of the marriage of Conte and his wife Kim.
A tribute to Conte was read by Lee from a letter handwritten by GTC founder Peter Malkin citing Conte’s contributions to the Town. “John gave to all of us his special combination of landscape expertise and social responsibility. His redesign of Greenwich Common and his concern for public spaces throughout the Town complimented his many private property landscapes.”
Just how Conte had made such an imprint was laid out in a “Proclamation” honoring him by First Selectman Fred Camillo, as read by Select-person Janet Stone McGuigan. “Whereas, throughout his life John R. Conte Jr. beautified the town of Greenwich as a licensed arborist, who grew a family business into Fairfield House and Garden, specializing in landscape construction and fine home building before founding Cone and Conte offering Landscape Architecture and Engineering Design that helped make Greenwich a greener community…”
The Proclamation read onward of Conte having served the town as “Co-Chair of the Greenwich Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Agency,” and having “served on the Architectural Review Committee and advised the Planning and Zoning Commission.” The list continued with Conte serving as board member of both Greenwich Land Trust and Greenwich Audubon.
But with those tributes flowing there were likely those focused on that newly planted young elm and recalling the fondness Conte had for the trees of his town, especially for that impressive but deceased and dying elm tree in front of First Church. Town Tree Warden Dr. Greg Kramer would choose the Valley Forge Elm as replacement – a fast grower he had shared, “at three feet a year, with a branch canopy up to 60-feet-wide,” and a life expectancy of 80 years he would add, thus, surely to be “a magnificent tribute to John.”
As to Conte’s expected shepherding of the upcoming transplant of the headquarters of Greenwich Tree Conservancy to an especially historic and green space in town – the Dingletown Community Church, Malkin would so address in the reading of the end of his letter. “In his brief times as the leader of Greenwich Tree Conservancy he set out ideas that the GTC will hopefully carry forward, including its future headquarters in the historic church in the historic Stanwich district.”
First Church Pastor Leo Curry, in his closing prayers, would engage attendees with a prayer: “O Lord, you have given us the gifts of plants and trees.” People: “May we ever use and protect them justly.” Curry: “O Lord, you have given us the care of the earth.” People: “O Lord, we accept the care of these gifts as our sacred stewardship. Amen.”
