25 July 2023
A St. Paul veteran will sleep under a new roof tonight, thanks to a partnership between Owens Corning, Habitat for Humanity and Sela Roofing and Remodeling.
Their latest project took place on the East Side of St. Paul in the Dayton’s Bluff neighborhood.
824 Fremont Avenue is home to Paula Schilling, Lynn Warnecke, pitbull Buddy, several tomato plants and beagle Sweetie.
The two-story home dates to the turn of the century, complete with Corinthian columns and dentil molding and sits on a corner plot encapsulated by a white picket fence.
Childhood home
Sitting in the shade of a birch tree and a tent, Schilling told the story of a home and a life.
Schilling, who graduated from Harding High School in 1961, has lived in the home since 1945 and remembers riding bikes to Indian Mounds Regional Park and the well-known “lovers’ lane” behind the mounds.
U.S. Army veteran Paula Schilling in front of her house in St. Paul as a new roof is put on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. “When I was younger I would have fixed it myself,” said the 79-year-old Schilling. “After five years of the roof leaking it feels fantastic to get a new one.” (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
After serving in the First Army Intelligence Corps in Baltimore for two years, Schilling originally planned to re-up and train to fly helicopters. Plans changed in 1967 when Schilling’s father died.
After returning to be with family in Minnesota, Schilling lived in a mobile home near Tanner’s Lake, saving money to buy the family home on Fremont Avenue.
When Schilling’s mother remarried, she gave Schilling a note that read: “paid in full.”
Schilling returned to 824 Fremont Avenue and has been there ever since, despite the challenges of owning an older house.
Crumbling roof
Recently, the home suffered an interior leak, and a crumbling roof didn’t help, but Schilling didn’t give up.
Five years ago Schilling began looking up programs for veteran assistance after struggling to find roof repair services without homeowners’ insurance. A friend recommended the Owens Corning project, and it was a match.
Workers began repairs on the house Tuesday, which meant removing years of roofing layers and redecking the entire surface.
“A new roof does a lot to stabilize an entire house,” Teresa Bintner from Habitat for Humanity said. “We’re working from the top down, in this case.”
Asked whether all the effort to preserve the house was worth it, Schilling said simply, “It’s my home.”
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