SC family honors Helene victim with logs from the tree that killed him

Charles Dean loved life in his South Carolina neighborhood with its manicured lawns and tall trees. It reminded him of his childhood, growing up in a family that had run a lumber business since the early 20th century.

It was one of those huge trees that ultimately killed him when Hurricane Helene swept through Greenville and uprooted a red oak tree that crashed into his apartment.

But rather than throw away the tree, his relatives plan to make a beautiful bench, table or other piece of furniture out of the wood and donate it to one of the drug rehab centers where Charles touched many lives, said brother Matthew Dean.

“Charles has helped many people who were addicted to alcohol and drugs and if there is anything we can take from this it is that there is always hope. There is always hope,” he said.

Days of rain soaked the ground, and as the storm reached the Southeast, it whipped up strong winds that uprooted trees and utility poles across the region.

Dean is among more than 200 people confirmed dead in one of the deadliest storms in U.S. history. Many died when trees fell on houses or cars. The dead in South Carolina include grandparents who were found hugging each other after a fallen tree killed them in their home and two firefighters who died when a tree fell on their truck.

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As the storm approached on September 27, Charles Dean texted his family to say he could hear trees falling outside as Helene devastated the city.

“Right in the middle, scary,” he wrote to his brother Matthew and sister-in-law, who were checking on him from 300 miles away in North Carolina.

“It's like mom and dad's old trees in the neighborhood, all old trees, and they fall over, it's scary,” he added.

A short time later, the 70-foot-tall, 3-foot (1-meter) diameter red oak tree crashed into the second-floor apartment, killing him.

“We told him we loved him and he said he loved us and that was the last message we had with him,” Matthew Dean said.

The eldest of five brothers, Charles Dean, 59, loved to travel and visited much of Europe. One of his favorite trips was a safari in Africa, but Spain was one of the countries he loved most.

He was a fan of Barbra Streisand and Elizabeth Taylor and kept up with news about the British royal family.

Dean also loved cooking and baking and watching political news, which he called “pure theater.” He often sent text messages to the family about the recent political scandal, his brother said.

He moved to Greenville in 2011 and began working as a substance abuse counselor — as a recovering alcoholic, he found hope in helping others, according to his brother. Dean also worked at a hardware store on weekends.

“Never in a million years did we expect to lose Charles,” Matthew Dean said. “He was so healthy and so vibrant and still had years to live.”

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