4 THE CHARBONNEAU VILLAGER June 2021
Planting connections in Charbonneau
Three generations of men worked in Charbonneau since the beginning
By CLARA HOWELL
Nathan Lawrence ’ s roots in Charbonneau stem back to when the planned community was built in Wilsonville . And the deep connection Nathan feels to Charbonneau has flowed through three generations of men in his family .
“ It ’ s ( Charbonneau ) been a really big part of my life and I know everybody ,” Nathan said . “ It ’ s really nice to be grounded and rooted in a place where people know you and you ’ re a part of things and they care and I care ... There ’ s no other community like Charbonneau in Oregon .”
Nathan , who owns Good News Tree Service , started working in Charbonneau when he was 13 . He helped his father , Tom Lawrence , with his landscaping company .
“ Our family started working in Charbonneau while it was being built ,” Nathan said .
In 1970 , his uncle , Ken Altman , worked for a company that helped develop and build Charbonneau .
Nathan said Charbonneau has many courtyards and landscape areas , so when people moved into their homes with barren courtyards , his uncle had his father , Tom , do a lot of the landscaping jobs .
Nathan grew up in Tigard and attended five years of college , working in the family landscaping business during his breaks . He worked in Charbonneau until the mid ‘ 80s , at which point he decided to start a tree service business . He said he got back into the Charbonneau community doing tree service around 1995 and worked for the various homeowners associations as an arborist .
“ I started doing tree work for the golf course as their arborist in the late ‘ 90s ,” Nathan said . “ I remember when Rick Schram was hired .”
Nathan had four children with his wife , Sandi , and said his kids would help him with work when they were homeschooled .
“ It was their PE class and a way to earn some money ,” said Nathan , adding that his two boys and two girls would help clean up sites by moving branches and helping rake .
Nathan was thrilled when his
See PLANTING / Page 5
ABOVE : Nathan Lawrence owns Good News Tree Service and started the company more than 20 years ago .
LEFT : Jared Lawrence , Nathan ’ s son , plans to take over the company in the future .
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