THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 10, 1994 TAG: 9408100453
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
For seven years, Robert Lee and Layne Vaughan watched from three doors away as their dream rotted.
After a stroke in 1987 left Robert in a wheelchair, medical bills dashed the couple's hopes of moving into the turn-of-the-century house they had bought in Whaleyville and begun to renovate. So they sat in their $100-a-month rental home nearby and waited.
Over time, things got worse. Termites devoured the wood. Water cracked the chimney. You could punch a hole through windowsills with your little finger. Some people said the only thing holding the home together was paint.
But in the past seven months, the couple have watched what they call ``a miracle.'' And Tuesday evening, after a volunteer effort by the community and several area churches, the Vaughans smiled broadly and muffled tears as they were welcomed into their renovated home.
The couple bought the house in 1981. Robert wired it, paneled it and made the kitchen cabinets.
Then came the stroke, which paralyzed his left hand, crippled his legs and partially blinded him. Robert, 62, an honorary assistant fire chief with the Whaleyville Volunteer Fire Department, said he can see birds outside his window, but only if they're moving.
The couple continued to pay taxes on the home despite the overgrown yard and boarded-up windows. They never lost hope of one day moving into it.
``It was always something in the back of my mind,'' said Layne Vaughan, 52. ``I don't know. We were just hoping something would come along someday.''
That something turned out to be the Rev. Lane Wadsworth of Whaleyville United Methodist Church. She heard about the Vaughans' home and called the Rev. Linwood Crook of Magnolia United Methodist, who happened to be looking for a project.
``Rev. Crook went through the house and said: `Let's do it,' '' said Wadsworth's husband, John Williams. ``And we just came and did it.''
Since January, a group of volunteers has spent Tuesday nights, Thursday nights and Saturdays refurbishing the two-story house. Walls were replaced. The first floor was carpeted. Termites were eradicated.
Through about $8,000 in contributions, raised through everything from a herring breakfast to yard sales, the group made the lone bathroom wheelchair-accessible. Whole sections of floor were replaced. The yard was spruced up.
Now the once-rotting pillars on the front porch are painted a bright white. The front door is a bold red. And the tall windows overlooking a new front porch are adorned with delicate curtains.
On Monday, the city of Suffolk signed off on its final inspection of the home. The Vaughans plan to move in by the end of September.
About 20 people gathered in the home's tidy yard Tuesday to feast on deviled eggs, cheese curls and cherry pie.
``This is the way they used to do it in the old days,'' the Rev. Wadsworth said. ``God has gifted everybody in some way. This house is a testament to those gifts.''
After some song and prayers, a friend read a letter from Robert and Layne Vaughan, who sat silently by their new side porch.
``You will never know the love we feel in our hearts for all you have done for us,'' the letter read. ``You have shown the love you have for us. We will never forget any of you.''
Layne said everything about her newly renovated house is ``just perfect.''
Said her husband: ``If you treat people with respect, these kinds of things will happen to you. I've tried all my life to be kind to other people. Now, I guess, it's coming back to me.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
JOHN H. SHEALLY II/Staff
Robert Lee and Layne Vaughan listen to singers from Magnolia United
Methodist Church at gathering at their renovated home.
by CNB