The family of a South Carolina man killed when a tree fell on his apartment during Hurricane Helene is honoring his memory by turning that same tree into furniture.
Charles Dean, 59, moved to Greenville, South Carolina, in 2011. His brother said the neighborhood was littered with tall trees that reminded Dean of his childhood and the lumber business his family ran. Dean started working as a drug addiction counselor because, as a recovering alcoholic, his family told WCVB that he found hope in helping others.
When the Category 4 storm began tearing through the Carolinas on Sep. 27, Dean's family told WCVB he texted members of his family in North Carolina to tell them he heard "old neighborhood trees, all old-growth trees" toppling around him, adding that it was "scary."
"We told him we loved him, and he said that he loved us, and that was the last message we had with him," Dean's brother said the the news outlet.
Dean's family later learned a 70-foot red oak crashed into his second-floor apartment during the storm, killing him.
"Never in a million years did we expect to lose Charles," Dean's brother told WCVB. "He was so healthy and so vibrant and had years to live."
To honor Dean's life and those he touched while living in Greenville, Dean's family plans to turn the tree in a bench, table, or other pieces of furniture that they will donate to one of the drug recovery centers where Dean worked.
"Charles helped a lot of people who were alcoholics and drug addicts, and if there is something we can get out of this, is that there's always hope. There is always hope," his brother told WCVB.
Hurricane Helene killed more than 220 people, making it the one of the deadliest US storms this century.
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