GALION — Jeannette Fox’s Christmas gift from her family came a little late this year, but it’s the gift of a lifetime.

It’s a fox, and it’s carved into a special maple tree in her backyard that holds fond memories for her – and her family.

“It sure was a surprise,” said Jeannette, 87, the mother of seven and affectionally dubbed “the matriarch” of the Fox family. “I think it’s gorgeous. I can look out my window and see my fox. It’s really cheery, don’t you think?”

Jeannette Fox looks at the fox carved from a silver maple tree in her backyard. (Submitted photo)

The five-foot tall figure was carved into the stump of that tree by Matt Missey of Ohio Tree Carving in New London. Chainsaw and tools in hand, it took Missey just two days last week to create and stain the wood sculpture, which sits just inside the fenced-in property.

But the plan to turn the shimmering Silver Maple into a Fox family fixture had been in the works for months, according to Jeannette’s daughter-in-law, Pennie Fox. The tree was infected with an ambrosia beetle, plus its falling leaves and limbs were a constant threat to the pool it used to shade.

Pennie Fox poses with the fox carving in her mother-in-law’s backyard. (Submitted photo)

“It got to the point that it was so much work cleaning off the solar pool cover, and I thought one day it’s just going to go over in a big storm,” said Pennie, whose home on Fox Court is just a stone’s throw from Jeannette’s to the east. “It just became too much work and a hazard.”

Pennie and her husband, Bill, finally arranged for the tree to be cut down last fall. But when Chompers Tree Service of Bellville showed up that October day, the two had a plan – remove the top portion of the 70-foot tree but leave at least a six-foot stump.

A 70-foot silver maple tree previously stood in the Fox residence’s yard and has been turned into a work of art. (Submitted photo)

They knew the maple was meant for more memories.

The tree was actually just an 18-inch seedling when Jeannette’s late husband, Homer, planted it back in 1958 and put a tiny fence around it. It came from the neighbor’s yard to the north, where it was growing up through a millstone near the garage door.

“That tree meant so much to the kids and to our family because he did plant it, so it was hard to cut it down,” Pennie said. “We knew when we cut it down what we wanted to have done because it’s so sentimental to the family. We always knew it would be a fox.”

The design for the carving is a mix of Homer’s tombstone – which is a fox – and the logo from the family business he and his wife founded in 1966, Fox Plumbing and Heating. Bill and Pennie’s son, Patrick, an architect in Twinsburg, offered to do a rendering of the design, which served as Jeannette’s temporary Christmas present.

A rendering of what the stump carving would look like (left) was based on the tombstone of Jeannette’s late husband, Homer Fox. (Submitted photo)

Now Jeannette, whose family has grown to 49 members, can look out the window while she’s riding her recumbent bike every day and marvel at the brown and white fox perched on the stump, sawdust still strewn on the ground below.

He actually seems to be winking at her. And she’s smiling back.