An oak tree that served as a backdrop for roughly a century of fairs and festivals in Inverness blew down in Monday night's fierce storm. It was the last of three immense old oaks in Inverness to die.

"It's sad," said Wade Holland, manager of Inverness Public Utility District. "It was probably planted by the earliest settlers."

For many Inverness residents the oak was like a neighbor. Located on the Village Green next to the Inverness Fire Department, it saw nine decades of Fourth of July foot races and many summertime Inverness Fairs.

Inverness librarian Nancy Hemmingway described the oak as "elegant and majestic." On Tuesday, she stopped by the Village Green and gently touched the oak to say goodbye.

"It's always been there for all of us," she told The Light the next day. "For it to go down is such a loss. It was this wonderful presence on the green there."

Added Inverness Fire Chief Mike Meszaros: "You might call it the village's heritage tree. It's just been in everybody's vision as long as memory serves."

Ironically, the old oak should have died in 1982, when flooding devastated Inverness and killed scores of other trees.

Another old oak, on Barbara Heenan's Inverness Way property, died after flood waters saturated the soil so much that the tree's roots couldn't breath. (A third giant oak, located at 10 Inverness Way, died in the 1970s).

Since then, strategic tree trimming by Tom Kent's Pacific Slope crew helped keep the oak alive. "We've had almost 14 years of grace on this tree," Holland said.

Kent this week said the oak's health had been declining in recent years. The branches were gradually losing their leaves, and insects were eating away the tree's trunk, he said.

Unfortunately, the fallen tree caused a minor controversy Tuesday. At least one resident sporting a chainsaw wanted to collect pieces for firewood, but the Inverness Fire Department decided to save the wood for volunteer firefighters.

Chief Meszaros said the firefighters are available 24 hours a day during storms to aid residents and clear downed trees. "This was an opportunity to let the volunteers get the first crack at it," he said.

Furthermore, "we didn't want [just] anyone cutting on it, for safety reasons," he added. "With a tree that massive, safety becomes our primary concern."

A chunk of the oak's trunk will be given to the Inverness Library, which will have its rings analyzed to determine the tree's age. Also, a bench or two may get carved from the trunk and placed on the green.

Meszaros noted the Inverness Association had been talking about putting park benches there. "It just seemed to be an opportunity to utilize a bit of history," he said.