GREENVILLE, S.C. — Charles Dean loved living in his South Carolina neighborhood, with its manicured lawns and towering trees. It reminded him of his childhood growing up in a family that has run a lumber business since the early 1900s.
It was one of those giant trees that ended up killing him when Hurricane Helene whipped through Greenville last week and uprooted a red oak that crashed into his apartment.
But rather than discarding the tree, his relatives plan to use some of its wood to craft a beautiful bench, table, or other pieces of furniture and donate them to one of the drug recovery centers where Charles touched many lives, brother Matthew Dean said.
“Charles helped a lot of people who were alcoholics and drug addicts, and if there is something we can get out of this, is that there’s always hope. There is always hope,” he said.
Days of rain saturated the ground, and as the storm reached the Southeast it whipped up strong winds that uprooted trees and utility poles throughout the region.
Dean is among the more than 200 people confirmed dead in one of the deadliest storms in U.S. history. Many died crushed by trees that fell on homes or cars. The dead in South Carolina include grandparents found hugging one another after a fallen tree killed them in their home and two firefighters who died when a tree fell on their truck.
As the storm approached on Sept. 27, Charles Dean texted his family to say he could hear trees coming down outside as Helene battered the town.
“In the middle of it now, scary,” he texted his brother Matthew and his sister-in-law, who were checking on him from 300 miles (480 kilometers) away in North Carolina.
“It’s like mom and dad’s old neighborhood trees, all old-growth trees, and they’re going down, frightening,” he added.
A short time later, the red oak, about 70 feet (21 meters) tall and 3 feet (1 meter) in diameter, crashed into the second-story apartment, killing him.
“We told him we loved him, and he said that he loved us, and that was the last message we had with him,” Matthew Dean said.
The oldest 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 among the countries he loved the most.
He was a fan of Barbra Streisand and Elizabeth Taylor and kept up with news about the British royal family.
Dean also loved to cook and bake and watch political news, which he called “pure theater.” He often sent text messages to family about the latest political scandal, his brother said.
He moved to Greenville in 2011 and began working as a drug addiction counselor — a recovering alcoholic, he found hope in helping others, according to his brother. On weekends Dean also worked at a home improvement store.
“Never in a million years did we expect to lose Charles,” Matthew Dean said. “He was so healthy and so vibrant and had years to live.”
