From tragedy to tradition: Forward Township family’s beloved tree ornament collection was born from a Christmas fire 51 years ago

By CHRISTINE HAINES
chaines@yourmvi.com

The Cline family of Forward Township has been collecting Christmas ornaments for the past 50 years, a tradition born of tragedy.
Dec. 28, 1970, 51 years ago, the family lost nearly everything when their house burned to the ground. That was the year that the oldest Cline daughter, Mary Beth, who was 6-years-old at the time, had promised Santa she would take good care of the ornaments if he let her keep them to help decorate the tree the following year. In her first six years and her sister Amy’s four, Santa had always brought all of the decorations Christmas Eve. “When the kids went to bed, there wasn’t a thing up. Then we put everything up,” said Betty Jane Cline, their mother. “Mary Beth, being 6, was going to school and the kids said they were putting up their Christmas trees. She asked about it and I told her they were just helping Santa because he had so much work to do.”

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Christine Haines / Mon Valley Independent
This Clydesdale horse ornament is one of the Cline’s family’s favorites.