from Randy Kehler (and Aaron Falbel)
This is a short note to let you know that the repair and renovation work on Wally and Juanita’s house at Woolman Hill has now been successfully completed! All the roofs, some of the internal structures, and parts of the inner walls and outer siding have been either strengthened or replaced. And all this thanks to the tireless work last year and this year of so many volunteer carpenters and helpers – and, of course, thanks also to all of you who sent us financial contributions to pay for all our building supplies and related expenses.
Special thanks must be extended to Gary Seldon, Stan McCumber, and Scott Nielsen, who oversaw and substantially contributed to much of the work on the house. Their tireless dedication, skill, and generosity really helped bring this project through to completion. THANK YOU!!!
Thanks, too, to the staff at Woolman Hill for their generosity, patience, good cheer, and willingness to put up with a certain amount of noise and commotion during the construction phase of this project. We are pleased to leave them with a water-tight, functional, and dare I say beautiful dwelling for their use — not to mention a fitting memorial to Wally and Juanita.
So now we’re happy to invite you to attend a celebratory “Open House” – on Sunday, October 27th, from 3:00 to 6:00 pm – at the “new” Nelson House. Inside the house, there will be various displays of photos and writings by and about Nita and Wally. If you have any such items that you think should be added, either to the display itself on October 27th or to Woolman Hill’s Nelson archives, please bring a photocopy of whatever you have. Or, if you’re not able to attend the open house, please mail them to me (Randy). If you want to bring particularly good Nelson-related items just to show others but not leave, that would be fine. (However, please note: We already have lots and lots of wonderful Nelson photos, as well as writings by or about them.)
Finally, if October 27th is a chilly day, as it’s likely to be, please be sure to dress warmly. We hope to have some hot tea and coffee available, as well as plenty of “finger food.” And inside the Nelson house, we hope to have a fire burning in Wally & Juanita’s original cook stove!
Hope to see you on the 27th. And thanks once again for all your help with and support of this project!
Randy Kehler
I have Wally’s vest. I wonder if it should be displayed.
How neat, Ginny! Thanks for the offer. You’re welcome to contact us at the office (413-774-3431, info[at]woolmanhill.org) if you’d like to arrange a hand-off. We might want to think about a way to protect the vest given that critters occasionally come look at the displays, too. 🙂 Margaret