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Community pulls together to finish family's dream home
By Andy Rieger, Norman Transcript
As a longtime newspaper photojournalist and photography shop owner, Tom Blevins saw thousands of images that defined his community. The good and the not so good. Fires and car wrecks. Bean suppers and political stumps. Prom nights. Family reunions. Football games and Eagle Scouts. On Saturday, a bigger picture of his community began to develop for him. In this one, there is no negative.
Dozens of volunteer workers began the task of finishing construction on a custom home that Blevins and his wife, Linda, have been building for nearly nine years. The 4,000 square foot home is nestled on a five-acre plot of red dirt off 36th Avenue in northeast Norman. The volunteers are in something of a hurry to finish. Tom has spent eight months in a battle with cancer. Linda's wish is for him to see his dream home completed. Time isn't on his side.
"He has got to live in it, at least one night, that's our ultimate goal," Linda said while greeting volunteers on a chilly, Saturday morning. "He did come out here after his surgery and he was able to do some minor things but it got to be too much."
He's homebound now and understands and appreciates the workers' mission, according to Linda. The volunteer effort began after a Cleveland County sheriff's deputy spread the word about the family's plight. Phone messages and e-mails began making the rounds of churches and other groups. Volunteers – builders, doctors, retirees and others – agreed to strap on a toolbelt for a man most had never met or would ever come to know. Most of the materials were already on site.
Linda went to Home Depot to buy a few more things last week. A clerk told her they couldn't deliver them until Monday. Linda told him that would be too late. She needed them by Saturday when the volunteers were coming. The store's manager was called in. Thinking she'd protested too hard to the clerk, Linda explained her plight. The store promptly donated the needed materials under a program designed for just such a situation.
"It's just been unbelievable," said Linda, a nurse for a couple of Norman physicians. "It just totally surprised me. I don't even have the word to express how grateful I am for these people giving up their days off to come and help us."
One of those workers was Kevin Kelleher. He rounded up volunteers from McFarlin Memorial United Methodist Church. He hopes the momentum will continue for the next two to three months. "I talked to people at work and at church and it really took off," Kelleher said. "We're going to try and finish this as to the way he wanted it."
Workers spent much of Saturday hanging sheetrock in the master bedroom and great room, trimming out windows and doors and generally assessing what needed to be done. Blevins had built scaffolding so that he could work solo. That will be coming down soon. From here on out, it's a team effort.
"You always hear that Norman is a special community that comes together but this is the best example of that I've seen," said Kelleher.
Tom designed the home so that the master bedroom and the great room overlook a small stock pond. The porch runs 125 feet across the back of the home. His retirement dream was a simple one: Sit on his porch, soak up some Oklahoma sunshine, read books and listen to radio talk shows. With a little luck and a lot of community volunteers, it may still happen.
"I prayed for a miracle, and called for a miracle," said Linda. "Today, my miracle has come through."
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