When the Schmale family moved into a rowhouse on Keswick Road in North Baltimore about 34 years ago, Kathy Schmale knew she wanted some sort of tree in her tiny yard.

Matthew Schmale believed in making his wife happy, so he planted a pine sapling out front. He thought it would grow to be 6, maybe 10 feet tall, but it kept going. Three decades later, the tree reached around 35 feet. It became a distinct part of the Hampden neighborhood — as did the Schmales.

That changed early Tuesday when a five-alarm fire broke out on Keswick Road, impacting at least eight homes on the street. Kathy and Matthew Schmale, both 63, didn’t make it out of their house in time, family said. The cause of the fire is not yet known.

The rowhouse was the place the Schmales raised their children, Rachael Jameson and Matt Schmale Jr. It was where they relished time with their four grandkids — their daughter’s children, Eren and Rowan, and their son’s children, Wilder and Ember.

Matthew Schmale was born on Nov. 22, 1960, while Kathy Schmale (née Heck) was born March 4, 1961. Both Maryland natives, the couple met through mutual friends while in school. They were married on June 12, 1983.

Matthew Schmale attended Penn State University, mainly so he could play volleyball, said Matt Schmale Jr. He was an incredible volleyball player and even had the opportunity to go to the Olympics, but he turned it down because he didn’t want to go overseas and leave his wife, his son said. Matthew Schmale never graduated from Penn State, but he became a lifelong fan. He went on to work as an administrator with the Maryland Department of Transportation.

Kathy Schmale held some odd jobs over the years, including cashiering for a pharmacy and doing work for the State Highway Administration, her son said. She hadn’t worked in recent years, instead preferring to spend her days in and around nature. She loved feeding the birds and squirrels that came by her home. The couple were delighted when a family of raccoons took up residence near their house. In recent months, Matthew Schmale gifted his wife a butterfly growing kit, and the couple would send pictures of the insects to their kids.

Some of Matt Schmale Jr.’s favorite memories with his parents include the many camping trips they took over the years. Once, when the family was out hiking, they came across a big puddle that had trout swimming in it. Matthew Schmale insisted on catching one of them, over the objections of his family, in part because that involved a 25-minute trip to and from a convenience store to buy a net.

Matthew Schmale did end up catching that trout, though, and “it was some of the best fish I’ve ever had in my life,” his son said.

The couple were the neighborly type. Chris Wise moved into the house next to theirs in 2013, and he quickly considered them family. The couple treated Wise’s two kids like their own grandchildren. When Wise’s son was about 4, he and Kathy Schmale started a tradition of tossing pine cones (from the giant pine tree) at each other.

“They’d call it ‘pine cone fights,’ and it was adorable,” said Wise, who considered his neighbors part of the “heart and soul” of Hampden.

Wise’s family moved to upstate New York about two years ago, but they kept in touch with the Schmales. When Cara Bates purchased Wise’s old home, the Schmales brought over a blueberry candle to welcome her to the neighborhood, she said. But even those who didn’t know the Schmales personally knew one thing about them: They always decorated their front lawn for the holidays.

“It didn’t matter if it was ... Valentine’s Day or Christmas or Halloween,” Wise said. “They just went all-out every time.”

The couple especially loved Halloween, Wise said, and enjoyed giving candy to trick-or-treaters. Matthew Schmale would sometimes hang out behind the bushes and pop out to spook the kids.

Kathy Schmale was the mastermind behind the extravagant holiday setups, Matt Schmale Jr. said. His mother was “as festive as they come,” he said, and his father was always along for the ride. The couple would buy inflatable decorations for every holiday, and they’d change the lights strung around the yard to reflect the time of year.

Valentine’s Day? It was all hearts. A patriotic holiday? An inflatable Uncle Sam riding a motorcycle. The Ravens were playing? The lights were all purple. Matthew Schmale was a lifelong fan of the Washington NFL team, but he adopted the Ravens. In any case, his neighbors said they could hear him yelling at the TV every Sunday in the fall.

Christmas was always an especially exciting affair when Matt Schmale Jr. was young. His parents insisted on driving an hour to get a live Christmas tree each year, and they’d walk acres to find the perfect one. That “perfect tree” was usually too tall or too wide to fit in their living room, so some trimming was always necessary before the real trimming began, Matt Schmale Jr. said.

Outside of their quirks and hobbies, his parents were just good people, Matt Schmale Jr. said. They always wanted to help people, he said. There were many times Matt Schmale Jr.’s friends came to stay at his house as a child because they didn’t have anywhere else to go.

Even after the tragedy that took their lives, Matthew and Kathy Schmale “would not want anybody to be sad about them,” their son said. They would want people to celebrate their lives and remember the good times, he said.

The couple might have been a little upset, though, that first responders had to cut down their beloved pine tree on Tuesday. As Matt Schmale Jr. watched it come down, he saw string lights wrapped around the very top — stretched out, but still intact, from when his parents decorated it decades ago.