The Future of the Aggie Century Tree Project

Feb. 9, 2021

Howdy everyone,

Our family has spent the past two months trying to determine the future of the Aggie Century Tree Project after the passing of its owner and founder, Andy Duffie '78, in November. We appreciate your patience as we explored a number of different options.

As happens so often with projects like these, it’s difficult to separate the business from the man whose passion drove the Aggie Century Tree Project forward, as they were so intertwined.

On the surface, much of the Aggie Century Tree Project was all about the trees and the scholarships. But over time, the project became something more – it became an outlet for Andy to express his personal values of compassion, service, excellence, and tradition; and manifest them through his trees.

Andy would reach out to grieving families and personally help plant Century Tree seedlings in memory of their loved ones. He would enthusiastically conspire with soon-to-be brides or grooms to surprise their significant other, presenting them with a unity tree to be used in their upcoming wedding. He would check in with parents, who sent him pictures of their young children smiling shyly into the camera as their year’s growth would be measured alongside one of Andy’s young seedlings. And he would take his scholarship recipients under his wing, eat lunch with them on campus, and do what he could to ensure their student days at A&M would be just as positive and impactful as his were.

That's just what he did, and the kind of man he was. He shared stories, made connections, and built a community around the Aggie Century Tree Project that became just as meaningful to him, and to others, as the project itself. It became so much more than the sum of its parts, and while others may attempt to replicate it or carry it on after his passing, the heart of it going forward would still invariably, inevitably change – because the heart of the Aggie Century Tree Project was Andy.

For this reason, our family has decided to bring the Aggie Century Tree Project to a close.

As part of this project close-out, the remaining inventory of seedlings – the last seedlings grown and cared for by Andy – will be available for purchase in the coming weeks, with proceeds going towards the Andy C. Duffie ’78 Endowed Aggie Ring Scholarship.

Pre-orders are currently open on the Aggie Century Tree Project website. However, pick-ups will only be available the weekends of March 13-14 and March 20-21, and orders will only ship out during that time frame as well. Sales will remain open until March 19, or until inventory runs out.

This decision has not been made lightly, and we are aware that many of Andy’s friends, classmates, and fans of his project would like to see it continue and the tradition live on, as so many beloved Aggie traditions often do.

But in our eyes, Andy’s legacy lives on in the students impacted by his scholarships – the excitement in their eyes as they arrive at campus for the first time, or receive their Aggie Rings. Andy’s legacy lives on in the thousands of trees that are now growing in the yards of Aggies across the country, trees that will remind those Aggies not just of their loved ones or of “days they spent at the A&M College of Texas”, but of what Texas A&M meant to them and those core values that Andy held so dear.

We think he would have liked that.

Thank you for your support of Andy’s project throughout the years, your stories and your sympathy in light of his passing, and your understanding as we close out his project in a way that we think solidifies his legacy.

Thanks and Gig’em,
The Duffie Family