Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
Mark and Janice Sturgill and James and Lucille Pennington strapped a 33-foot-tall Fraser Fir Christmas tree to a J & L Trucking truck last week and made the trek to Morgantown where the tree was placed in front of WVU Medicine Children’s Hospital for the third annual Holiday Lights and Goodnights celebration.
The Sturgills own and operate Sturgill and Sons Christmas Tree Farm near Durbin and are members of the Mountain Loggers Group which has provided a Christmas tree for the hospital for the past three years.
“The group gets together and decides which tree farm will donate the year’s tree and this year, we were selected,” Mark explained.
The tree was given the star treatment on December 4 when the official lighting took place. The event included a parade of first responders, hot chocolate for the crowd and live music.
Children who are patients at the hospital were able to watch the festivities with their families from the windows in their rooms.
The Sturgill farm was founded in 1969 by Mark’s parents, Jack and Virginia.
As Mark described, with grit, determination and, as Jack put it – sweat equity – they were able to develop a thriving small business. The Sturgills sold trees from their home in Petersburg and supplied trees to vendors in Bartow, the Elkins area and even in southwestern Virginia.
In later years, they sold their trees through the Petersburg Volunteer Fire Company and the Moorefield Boy Scout Troop.
Carrying on the family legacy, Mark and his brother, Dan, continue to sell trees and greenery to customers, including to a local lifetime customer – Brushy Mountain Tree Farm, owned and operated by Travis Heavener in Franklin.
