Grinestaff: No words can describe gratitude

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November 29, 2009

BY BRIAN L. HUCHEL The Commercial-News Sun Nov 29, 2009, 12:04 AM CST

CATLIN — Linda Grinestaff will tell you she’s not the kind of woman who gives up on things. But she also will admit that at one point in the last two years, giving up seemed like her only option.

For much of the last 2½ years, Grinestaff has dealt with trials and turmoil on two fronts of her life. On one side, she had to face the diagnosis and treatment of cancer in three of her five daughters. On the other, she has been a person without a home.

“When I think back about it, I get shaky,” she said. “It was so unnerving.”

Everything was coming together — and, ironically, fell apart — in 2007. Grinestaff, a Catlin resident for almost 40 years, was overwhelmed by the large house she lived in, so she bid on a small home just down the street.

She closed on the small home on Webster Street in May 2007. Days later, one of her daughters was diagnosed with cancer. Grinestaff returned to the new home in July 2007 when her old home sold. The problems began when a termite inspector went underneath her new home to spray for pests.

His assessment after emerging from underneath the home she was so excited about: You have serious problems.

Grinestaff tried to get contractors out to look at the home. One agreed and started work in September 2007 by removing the lower portion of siding from the home. The result: termite problems originally found in the basement now were visible up the walls and into the attic area.

And more problems greeted the workers as a clear view of the bathtub was visible when the siding was removed. She was devastated.

A try by another contractor in October 2007 to jack up the home to correct damage in the crawl space lasted lasted only two hours before they reported to Grinestaff that they couldn’t do the work.

“I can’t tell you what all went through my head at that time. I cried,” she said.

Money from the sale of her old home had gone toward the two construction efforts. Now, she felt like she was on an island.

“I was just like, I’ve lost every penny I had,” Grinestaff said. “I’m homeless, I’m penniless. My daughter’s dealing with cancer. It was very bad.”

Staying with a friend locally and her daughter in Atlanta, Grinestaff bounced back and forth between the two homes and rented an apartment while she pursued a civil suit regarding the house. In the meantime, two more of her daughters were diagnosed with cancer.

When the legal effort ground to a halt, her friends, neighbors and fellow church members stepped in.

Grinestaff said she still remembers meeting with Kay Smoot, one of the organizers behind the project to raze her home and build a new one. They had already been meeting and putting together the plan.

“I can’t even describe to you the feeling in the midst of all this suffering that gave me,” she said. “The people in Catlin have been very supportive through all of this. But this goes beyond supporting. I don’t have in my vocabulary what the word for this is.”

Grinestaff said of her dream home: “I want warm in the winter, cool in the summer, at least one large closet and no bugs.”

Grinestaff said she didn’t realize how many friends she had until this happened. Now, with the efforts of friends and two of her daughters back to work again, Grinestaff said she has a goal — a meal with her family.

“My fondest hope is that the house will be built and all my daughters will be there at a family dinner,” she said.

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