One May 2012 Award Home Has Good Timing

Remember the long-abandoned house at 4239 Indiana on the corner of Maxine Drive?

Vacant and once sporting broken attic windows and a hole in the roof, it's now award worthy.  Reverend Bob Smith and his wife, Belinda, bought this victim of neglect two plus years ago as it was about to be fixed up and flipped for resale.  That was good timing, as that gave Bob and Belinda a chance to make some design choices while the house was being restored.  The interior is now cheery and warm and the exterior now has a well kept lawn, trimmed hedge and three great new trees, one magnolia and two tulip trees.  4239 Indiana is now noticeable for the Smiths' commitment to keeping it all looking so nice, not for its decay.  Thank you, Bob and Belinda!

There's more to be said about timing for the Smiths.  They moved to Fort Wayne from Chicago for positions at Taylor University and FWCS, but it wasn't long before Taylor closed its Fort Wayne campus and FWCS layoffs occurred. They were renters at the time so they could easily have moved on, but they stayed.  Bob became the Director of the Fort Wayne School of Urban Ministry, and it was there that he met the house flipper who brought he and Belinda into our neighborhood.  Belinda now teaches English Language Learners (ELL) for FWCS and Bob makes time to participate in our association meetings.  All in all, this has been good timing for us, as a neighborhood!