Area native taking Christmas tree to White House

By Pete Chiodo

Eric Sundback left Crawford County a long time ago. Too much snow.

He moved his family just south of the Mason-Dixon line where he carved out a pretty peaceful existence, spending most of his time with his wife and business partner, Gloria, and with row after row of uncommonly full, extraordinarily green pine trees.

Of course, that state of rural tranquility has been interrupted from time to time. For example, there’s the month of December; madness for a seller of Christmas trees.

“You bet,” said Sundback. “You’re on the retail lot 13 hours a day, seven days a week.”

Then there’s the occasional trip to the White House to present the nation’s first family with their official Christmas tree of the holiday season. That’s rather exciting.

“Oh yeah,” Sundback said. “This is a big deal.”

The Sundbacks are scheduled to make their fourth such trip on Friday, delivering a gorgeous 18-foot-tall Douglas fir to first lady Michelle Obama.

“The tree,” said Sundback, “comes up in front of the White House on this big green wagon pulled by ... what are those big horses called, the ones that pull the wagon for Budweiser?”

Clydesdales?

“Yes, Clydesdales. They drag it up the hill. And we’ll stand in front of wagon and present it to Mrs. Obama. And then usually we go in for a reception.”

Once decorated, the tree will spend the holiday season in the White House’s Blue

Room, greeting the dignitaries and statesmen who visit the White House.

“It’s a huge tree,” said Sundback. “It has to be 18-feet to plug into the electric tie-in in the ceiling of the Blue Room.”

The Sundbacks made this special delivery for the first time in 1979 to first lady Rosalynn Carter. They then presented two trees to the Reagan family, in 1981 and 1987.

It’s been a little while since they’ve been to the White House. And the Sundbacks — Eric is 82, Gloria is 83 — are psyched to go back.

“Hopefully it makes the evening news,” Eric said.

Folks around Meadville may recognize the Sundback name. Eric’s father is Gideon Sundback, the man credited with inventing the zipper and establishing Talon Inc., once a major industry in Meadville.

“G,” Eric calls him.

“It’s strange,” he said, “I was very self-conscious in those days because that was in the depression, and G. Sundback was doing very well with his zipper business.

“Now I come back to Meadville and nobody knows the name Talon or Sundback. It comes full circle.”

Eric first started selling trees as a kid, harvesting them from his father’s property.

He went on to study horticulture and agronomy in college. That’s also where he met Gloria, a chemist. And after graduation, the two moved to Saegertown where their children, Mark and Kristen, were born.

The Sundbacks set up their first tree farm in the Spartansburg area. And for a short time they commuted to the Washington, D.C., area to sell the trees that they grew.

In 1959, the family made the move to D.C. They later started a second tree farm in the West Virginian panhandle, in a place called Shepherdstown. That’s where they currently reside.

All the while, the Sundbacks worked to perfect their trees, often scouring sections of the Rocky Mountains, looking for specimens to harvest seeds from.

The Obamas’ tree, for instance, came from a “mother” in New Mexico.

Then, through a careful process of cross pollination, through generations of plantings, and through months of pruning by hand, the Sundbacks would wrest Yuletide grandeur out of wild nature.

“No tree knows it wants to be a Christmas tree,” said Sundback. “So you spend life looking for the characteristics that makes a good Christmas tree.

“You’ve got to be old to be in this business,” he added.

How did the Sundbacks’ trees find their way into the White House?

Well, first they won Christmas tree competitions at the state level. That qualified them for consideration by the National Christmas Tree Association, which has provided the White House tree each year since 1966.

Four times the Sundbacks have been named Grand Champion Christmas Tree Growers by the association. And each time they’ve had the honor of providing the White House with a Christmas tree. Four times is a records for tree growers.

The Sundbacks know what they’re doing.

And this is something the Sundbacks’ non-presidential customers have known for a long time.

“Our business is near 80 to 90 percent repeat customers,” Sundback said. “We spent 40 years in the retail business and had quite a few that bought from us that first year in 1967 that still buy our trees.”

In 2007, Eric and Gloria turned over the retail operation to a couple of employees. But the Sundbacks still work in the orchard. And occasionally they’ll get a special request.

“I just had a call last Saturday from a customer, he’s 91,” Sundback said. “He was calling from his hospital bed. He broke his hip. He wanted to come out to the orchard and get a tree.

“Normally, we don’t allow people to come out here. But he’s in a wheelchair, so we said come on out. And he’ll be out next week with his daughter to pick up a tree.

“He’s still going. He’ll get a tree from us.”

Pete Chiodo can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at pchiodo@meadvilletribune.com.