Story behind the song
FORT EDWARD � For nine years, the Fort Edward Chamber of Commerce has organized "Memory Lane," a December event during which residents purchase a live Christmas tree and decorate it in honor of a loved one who has died.
For a month, the trees line the river at the Fort Edward Yacht Basin, each as unique as the person it honors.
A carpenter might be immortalized with miniature saws, hammers and safety helmets hanging from nearly every bough. Another tree might feature kitchen tools to honor a mom once famous for her baking.
To MARY ELLEN BARLOW , nearly every decorated tree in Memory Lane brings an actual person's face to mind.
Some of those honored were friends; others were the mother or father of a schoolmate she's known all her life.
The local woman has written a song, "MEMORY LANE," about the annual event, and had a demo of it produced in Nashville.
It was set to music by Steven R. Cooper, a Tennessee producer, and sung by BRITT SAVAGE, a fledgling singer also from Tennessee, who will release her first CD in January.
"I originally had the demo made just to be able to give it to each person who had a tree in Memory Lane this year," said Barlow. "But friends have heard it and passed the word around, and it seems to be getting a lot of attention."
Burning copies of the one-song CD on her own equipment, Barlow has offered it to anyone interested for just a $5 donation to the Fort Edward Food Pantry.
The heartfelt lyrics and sing-along melody capture the essence of Christmas, as a small town shares its holiday joy while remembering those who are no longer with them.
"There are Christmas lights reflecting on the water, so many they deserve a closer look," Savage sings. "To strangers, they're the pretty part of Christmas; to my hometown they're the pages of a book."
The event was first held in 1998 as a Chamber of Commerce function, with only businesses participating. That year, a dozen trees were set up in Underwood Park, adjacent to the yacht basin, featuring items from local businesses.
The bakery in town, for example, shared a tree with the liquor store, decorating their effort with garlands of finger rolls and miniature champagne glasses. But that year, a young man in the village died unexpectedly, and it was suggested that his parents decorate a tree in his honor.
Since then, every year, Donald and JoAnn Curtis honor their son, Donald Curtis Jr., by decorating a tree with white lights and a dove.
After recognizing how meaningful the tree was to the Curtises, the chamber decided to expand the event and invite families to participate. More than 50 have done so this year.
Barlow recognizes "Donnie" Curtis and his parents in her song with the lyrics, "families tell their stories in their own way; for one it's simply clear lights and a dove."
"We're just blown away by the song," said JoAnn Curtis. "The whole event of Memory Lane raises you up and makes you feel proud.
"Donnie would have loved it. Christmas was a big thing to him. And I know it means a lot to his 13-year-old son, Scott, when we bring him to see the tree."
Barlow, who retired this year after a long career with the New York State Appellate Court division, said she began writing poems after the death of her father, Richard, in 1973.
"After a while, I thought, 'hey, could this be a song?' " Barlow recalled. "I wrote 'Windows of My Life' about my father, and it was recorded almost immediately by the Memory Brothers, featuring Doug Koemple, who performs out west all the time."
That song appeared on the group's Grammy-winning album, "Somebody Searchin'," and Barlow said with that experience, she "was hooked."
Later songs included "The Volunteer" and "Everybody Cried," about firefighters and a deadly fire in Hudson Falls.
Proceeds from those songs were donated to the families of local firefighters killed in the line of duty and the New York State Volunteer Firefighters' Museum.
Barlow has written and had rec
