Lessons in loss, and in the power of a community’s support in the wake of that loss, were brought home in a very literal way for one county resident this year.
Polly Board and her husband of 33 years, Bennie, sold their family farm on the West White Sulphur Road in December 2006 — all but 17 acres, that is. That tract of field would be the site of a new home for them and their daughter, Jessica, modeled after a pole barn, for economy in construction and ease in maintenance.
By late February, work had been under way for a week, and the Boards, working with an Amish builder from Marion, were seeing their dream home, designed by Polly herself, coming to life.
But those plans were set to change.
On Saturday, Feb. 24, Bennie passed away, from a massive brain aneurysm. He was 50 years old.
“My husband was perfectly healthy,” she said. “Perfectly healthy when we went to bed, and your whole life changes in just the snap of a finger.”
He was laid to rest in the White Sulphur Cemetery on Feb. 27.
With his passing came an abrupt end in the construction on the Boards’ new home.
“I was at a total loss as to what to do,” she said. “I didn’t know if I wanted to continue.”
But work on the home did continue, in the hands of nearly 75 volunteer laborers, from friends and family members to church groups and complete strangers alike, in testament to the community’s ability to rally around one of its own when the need arises.
The volunteer effort was launched in March, after Polly was paid a visit by family friend Ricky “Hoss” Cartwright.
“Hoss came over one day and said he would take care of everything if I wanted him to,” she said. “He organized everything that was done on this house.”
The first group to arrive, she said, came from Northside Baptist Church, on one of the coldest days in March, before the home even had walls.
Their work would be followed by labor from many others, both skilled builders and volunteers with little to no experience in the craft but a desire to help nonetheless.
Several of the volunteers would come to the home after a full shift at their regular jobs and work for 2 or 3 hours on the construction, she said.
And some who contributed, financially or by volunteering, did not even know her or the family, she added.
“And you think, ‘Gosh, how will you ever repay something like this?’ And it makes you think about all the times I probably had the opportunity to do things, that I didn’t,” she said. “I certainly hope I’ll do better.”
Polly had been staying at her mother’s home for about three weeks. But soon after construction resumed, she was on the scene, camping in the rising structure as it went up.
“There’s no place like home, even if there isn’t one yet,” she said.
Construction progressed through the spring and summer, with Polly paying for materials and volunteers under Cartwright’s orchestration handling the labor.
By August, Polly and Jessica had moved in for good.
A few details remain to be completed, but the home is essentially finished, thanks to numerous helping hands from Caldwell County and beyond, with love and compassion reinforcing the wood and concrete of its structure.
“It’s certainly been an experience,” said Polly. “It’s hard to describe. It makes you feel so humble and so grateful.
“It wasn’t all for Bennie or myself,” she added. “It was just good people doing good things, and it’s deeply, deeply appreciated.”
