My home town, where I grew up, is Freer, Texas, just west of Laredo, in thebrush country where my first job was building fence. By the usual turns one takes, I became an English teacher at the Greenwich High School in Greenwich, CT from which I retired.
Living in the nearby town of Redding, where I built my own house during the summers over the course of thirty years, I continued building-- with Habitat, a highlight being a trip with our church youth group to Americus, GA to learn the role of Clarence Jordan at the intentional interracial community of Koinonia Farm and how he helped Millard Fuller build Habitat.
Over the last 45 years as a Habitat volunteer, my farthest outreach been as a partner with the Boscobel United Church in Oracabessa, Jamaica as they work on improving housing opportunities in their community.
My favorite hobby is making sawdust and working with my hands building community- in Clarence Jordan's words an experimental plot- now in Chaffee County.
Clarence and Millard would be proud to see, on any given day; a group of high school students, Chris and his construction class of offenders from the prison, Bike and Build college students, a team of women such as the local roller derby team, a senior caravan, Rotarians, church members, and us local volunteers- all shoulder to shoulder.
