For 17 years, flights out of the Golden Triangle Regional Airport have passed over a large cross-shaped pine tree forest.
The 350 Loblolly pines were planted at Trinity Church, across Highway 82 from West Lowndes High School, by local forester Francis Thomas Troskey and two of his employees in 1993.
“I doubt if there”s another cross that big anywhere in the country,” Troskey said.
As he sipped coffee in his armchair Wednesday, 85-year-old Troskey explained the how and why behind the cross.
His late wife of 62 years, seven months and 12 days, Esther Troskey, had just joined the newly built church, he said. At that time, he had a few pine seedlings left over from his winter planting and decided to use them to make a statement.
“I knew that within five or six years that pine tree cross would be very visible to everyone in an airplane passing over,” said Troskey, a 56-year forester.
“I bet there have been hundreds (who have seen the cross),” he added.
The cross, which is made of 40- to 50-foot disease-resistant pines, is 250 feet long and 200 feet wide and fills an acre now. Troskey, who served 15 years as a naval aviator after graduating from a Universal, Ind., high school in 1943, said the cross can be seen from as high as 15,000 feet.
Troskey and his employees, Bert Petrey and Newton Guerry, surveyed the area and planted the trees in an afternoon at his expense, he said.
In addition to promoting Christianity, Troskey”s son, Gene, said the cross could also be a comfort.
“I imagine people flying are holding onto their armrests thinking, ”Lord, please, please, please don”t let me crash.” Then, they look over and see that cross,” he said.
The point of the cross, he continued, is to “remind people of Christ and to remind them to pray.”
The church”s pastor at the time, the Rev. Curtis Petrey, said the cross has had a far-flung ministry over the years.
“We”re Christians,” he said, “and that”s what Christianity”s all about.”
With a little care, the cross could still be around 100 years from now, Troskey said.
“The Lord”s been taking care of it,” he added with a smile.
While thousands of airplane passengers may have spotted the cross, Troskey hopes it especially pleased one.
“I imagine that God enjoys looking down on our memorial to his son,” he said.
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