Shortly following WWII,  Shirley Hadley and her husband built 1880 and planted a little magnolia much too close to the kitchen window, as it turned out.  The Hadley’s quickly outgrew the house and moved away and the magnolia quickly grew too large for that spot — but there it stayed.  The family who moved in next and lived here for many years (the house is generally known as “The Rankin House”)  kept it cut back so it would not grow right through the kitchen and out into the front yard.Now, it is three stories high and just as wide.  During summertime, the fragrance is so heady that it sometimes wakes me up when it comes in through my open bedroom window.  Shirley died this year, but her beautiful tree  lives on.