December 3, 2021
“We have to admit we’re getting older and this is how it’s going to be” That’s what Marta Lyons finally said to her husband Fred, last year. “Unless we get a personal trainer and work to get stronger every day, this is the reality.” The reality was that the couple who had been living in their home for over three decades, had stopped using their shower regularly, due to a fear of falls and injury. Add to that rotting roof eaves and a constant leak in the kitchen that never seemed to get fixed. Added up, the disrepair was making their family home, less than livable. The couple met in 1977 in Kyle, Texas where Ms. Lyons was born and raised. She met Fred who was originally from San Francisco when his military service brought him back to Fort Hood. Three tours of Vietnam and three Purple Hearts later, Fred was ready to settle down in a small town. They jumped at a chance to buy the house they had been renting when the bank offered it. While it was a good starter home for raising three sons, Marta concedes that the developers built the homes quickly, not always using the best materials. Marta and Fred were impressed by the professionalism of the Home Depot team that quickly updated their bathroom which was remodeled for accessibility, added new flooring and sink in the kitchen as well a new roof. Marta now says “I sit in the backyard and I tell Fred that I’m so glad we paid our little house off.” As for the work that was funded by the Home Depot Foundation and MOWCTX, that made their home a place of comfort again, Marta says, “we are grateful.”