...Continued from yesterday: So, in the fall of 1971 the University of Dayton Appalachia Club was on the verge of losing its home in Magoffin County when Tom, 21 years old and in his senior year of college, cleaned out his savings from his high school paper route and college jobs and for $2400 bought a house with a barn on 30 acres of land about a mile off the road back in a mountain holler called Burton Fork. True, this house was also a bit of a fixer-upper: ...And the outhouse needed to be rebuilt, but the house did have electricity and a well for water. And more importantly, the Appalachia Club was able to continue its community service work in Magoffin County on weekends during the school year, 45 years later the Appalachia Club is still alive and well at the University of Dayton though the club moved from Burton Fork to a new location probably 20 years ago. After Tom's house and barn had stood abandoned for a few years the local authorities asked his permission to burn down what remained of the buildings. Tom gave them permission to do so. In 2012 a local resident offered Tom $9000 for the land and Tom sold it to him. And that's the end of the story. But in our family room hangs a gift I once gave to Tom. It's a picture I had an artist paint from a photograph of that house and barn that Tom bought when he was 21 years old so that a group of beautiful young people could continue reaching out to their brothers and sisters in need. I matted it myself and I made the frame from a piece of wood.
4 Comments
Audrey
3/10/2015 04:12:38 am
Hi Patti. I really liked this story. I never new Tom did that!!
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Patti
3/10/2015 04:25:55 am
And did you notice Uncle Donald in the photo of the group of summer program kids sitting in front of the house? He's sitting on the ground on the far left wearing a hat and a striped shirt and holding a bottle, or something. (Wonder what was in that bottle?) ;)
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Molina
3/10/2015 11:44:26 am
You guys never fail to amaze me...wonderful people from the get go!
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Patti
3/10/2015 12:14:31 pm
Thanks, Molina. Takes one to know one, right? ;)
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