Remembering Charlie

The original owner of our home passed away about a week ago & I wanted to take a moment to write a little about him. He was such a kind man who took such an incredible pride in his home.

Mr. Hubley & his wife, Ethel built this house in 1956 with Avriel Shull. They were the first couple to purchase a custom built home from her. When we first met, he invited us over to see his house, but not because he was interested in selling. Just because we might like to see it.

We WERE seriously interested in buying it from the start & had actually approached him for just that reason. But he was steadfast in his desire to stay in his home of 52 years. As weeks went by, we made multiple visits to his (our) house. Over time, he and his family decided it might be time for him to move.

I sincerely feel that we were "chosen" to by Mr. Hubley to be the next owners of our house in Thornhurst. He seemed to trust that we truly appreciated the architecture & history of the neighborhood. He was not entirely unique in being the original home owner of this house. Many of the original home owners have only recently passed or moved from the neighborhood. They all take great pride in their place in local history.

Buying a house directly from the previous owner is a unique experience that could certainly go poorly - but we were incredibly lucky in that our experience was a good one. Mr. Hubley left us a ton of useful stuff to get started as new homeowners. And he had an open invitation to visit our house. It was always fun to have Charlie visit & he was so happy to be here. My favorite visit was when I looked out the bedroom window one morning to find him checking out the shed.

As a final gesture, Mr. Hubley apparently told his sons that he had seen we were using his front porch furniture & he had taken a few pieces with him to his new home when he moved. He asked his kids to be sure that we got the remaining furniture to complete our front porch set. And these were the best pieces so we are thrilled to have them displayed on our front porch.

I hope he did feel he made the right choice, to pass on this home to us. We are so lucky to have our home!