BERLIN (NBC 26) — More than 200 decorated trees fill Nathan Strong Park in Berlin, a tradition that’s especially meaningful for a local, 96-year-old dance teacher.
The walls in the basement of Beverly Keelor’s house are filled with memories– from newspaper clippings to concert photos.
It was once the home of Beverly Ann’s School of Dance.
Keelor ran the school out of the basement of her parents’ house- the same house she grew up in and the same house she lives in now.
“Walking down the street and people go ‘Miss Beverly, how are you?’ and that really makes my day,” Keelor says.
She held adult and youth dance classes for 35 years.
“I just know that she’s made such an impact on not only my childhood but generations of little girls and little boys growing up in Berlin,” Greta Hoesley, a former student, says. “One person really has an impact on the whole community.”
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The home of the dance company, and the home Keelor grew up in, is across the street from Nathan Strong Park.
“That park is part of me,” Keelor says. “That was sort of my second home for many, many years.”
Currently, Nathan Strong Park is filled with 200 decorated Christmas trees- a community tradition.
Each year, Keelor decorates a tree with her family.
“I look forward to it,” Keelor says.
While many of the trees are memorials for community members who have passed away, Keelor’s tree is a reminder that she’s still here after nearly a century of a fulfilling life.
“I have my music when I’m lonesome, and I have the park in the summer… I’m happy I have my home,” she says.
The Berlin trees will stay up through Jan. 1.
