HATFIELD — Started in 1974 as Francis Englehardt crafted wreaths from hand-picked greens, often making them for headstones in local cemeteries, The Holly Shed on West Street has grown to become a one-stop site for wreaths, decorative log boxes and other Christmas season decor, for both families and local businesses.

In appreciation of his friendship with the late Francis Englehardt, and his relationship with members of the Englehardt family, longtime Daily Hampshire Gazette press operator James O’Connor recently made a donation to the Sidney F. Smith Toy Fund.

In a note attached to his donation, he calls what the Englehardts do as making “Christmas masterpieces” and thanks them for “spreading joy.”

“(The donation) is for 50 years of the Englehardt family being great friends,” O’Connor said in a phone interview.

O’Connor recalls that he would sometimes join Englehardt in picking greens and getting the shop ready for the holidays, and over the years he has been invited to numerous weddings and other celebratory occasions with the family.

During much of that time, O’Connor worked the press for the newspaper, a job be held from 1960 to 2008, as one of the few employees whose tenure extended from the ownership of Harriet Williams DeRose, who died in 1960, through to her son Charles N. and then grandsons Peter and Charles W., before Newspapers of New England acquired the company.

O’Connor also got to know Smith, the former business manager at the Gazette for whom the Toy Fund, which began in 1933, is named, and which was created to help families in need during the Depression. Today, the fund distributes vouchers worth $65 to qualifying families for each child from age 1 to 14.

To be eligible for the Toy Fund, families must live in any Hampshire County community except Ware, or in the southern Franklin County towns of Deerfield, Sunderland, Whately, Shutesbury and Leverett, and in Holyoke in Hampden County.

The following stores are participating this year: A2Z Science and Learning Store, 57 King St., Northampton; Blue Marble/Little Blue, 150 Main St., Level 1, Northampton; High Five Books, 141 N. Main St., Florence; The Toy Box, 201 N. Pleasant St., Amherst; Comics N More, 64 Cottage St., Easthampton; Once Upon A Child,1458 Riverdale St., West Springfield; Plato’s Closet, 1472 Riverdale St., West Springfield; Sam’s Outdoor Outfitters, 227 Russell St., Hadley; Odyssey Bookshop, 9 College St., Village Commons, South Hadley; The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, 125 W. Bay Road, Amherst; World Eye Bookshop, 134 Main St., Greenfield; Holyoke Sporting Goods Co., and 1584 Dwight St. No. 1, Holyoke.

O’Connor remembers driving Smith’s Cadillac to Harriet DeRose’s funeral. Smith died in 1973, at the age of 83.

Operating the press came with its own challenges, including the times when there was a need to literally stop the presses. Two of the most memorable occasions for O’Connor came when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, and then 15 years later when former Vice President Hubert Humphrey died.

Among those overseeing The Holly Shed is Joe Englehardt, Francis Engledhardt’s grandson, who said the hope is to keep the seasonal business going as long as possible.

“Fifty years of family working together, bringing joy and decor to the area, is something I am very proud of,” Englehardt said. He said he has been involved for the past five years, but helped his father from an early age, along with his siblings and cousins.

That O’Connor would remember his grandfather with the donation is appreciated.

“My grandfather was an incredible person who is still talked about today, given he passed 12 years ago,” Englehardt said. “I don’t think he would’ve ever thought this business would be as big as it is today.”

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.