Must have been sad. I was a little kid in the 70s, and I remember my parents talking about it a lot, and my dad constantly had his chainsaw out in the forest.
the Elms were big majestic and old, then we heard about the disease fungus and they all died in like just a year.
Everyone tried to save them, but eventually there was nothing anyone could do.
I have heard similar things about banana fungus, it would really suck if it spreads.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_disease