I pass a house almost every day of my life. It is a rather nice brick structure, but I’ve noticed for some time it appears to need a roof.
Last week I noticed shingles and roofing materials in the yard. Today, workers are on site to replace the roof.
I remember the last time that house was roofed. The house originally belonged to a prominent Union County businessman. His son told me that another prominent Union Countian, Clifford Stiner, built the house. I’d say it was constructed in the late 1940s or early 1950s.
I remember the original owner saying when he had the house roofed in the mid- to late 1990s, “That’s the last roof I’ll ever have to worry about.” He was correct. He was in his seventies when he made that statement, and he passed away in 2002. The man was in poor health for some time before his passing.
It seems he has been gone so long, though it has only been twenty-three years ago. Doing the math, that means that shingle roof lasted approximately thirty years. Many shingle roofs are sold as “thirty-year roofs”, though many do not live up to the anticipated life expectancy. The steep pitch of the particular roof in discussion has undoubtedly helped its longevity.
Over the weekend, I passed an abandoned schoolhouse that I have seen numerous times throughout my life. It is almost exact in exterior design to other abandoned school buildings I have seen in the East Tennessee area. I don’t know the age of the building, but judging from its style I’d say it was built in the 1920s or 1930s. The building itself still stands erect, though the painted white clapboard siding is showing advanced signs of weathering. Most of the extremely tall windows are covered with tin, and I recall no bell having hung in the belfry during my lifetime.
What has preserved this abandoned, unkempt building so well during its almost century of existence? The building has a metal roof with an extremely steep slope.
Just a few months ago, the office building directly across the street from the Union County Courthouse was demolished. Currently a parking lot is being prepared on the site. That building used to house the City Café, Maynardville Post Office, Buckner’s Furniture and Appliance, and in later days a consignment shop operated by Dewey and Jean Neely.
I hadn’t been in the building for years, but when I learned of the impending demolition I took a walk around the structure with my nephew. We looked through the windows. The building was in a sad state of repair. Though constructed of brick and block, the leaking roof allowed the wooden floor and ceiling to become damaged to the point that renovation possibly would have cost more than new construction.
I used to pass another house, which I judge was about the same age of the schoolhouse mentioned above. For years I watched that abandoned house stand unchanged from the time I was a student at Maynardville Elementary and looked at it every day from my fifth and sixth grade classroom windows. That was half a century ago.
One day as I drove past, I noticed a small hole in the shingle roof. It amazed me how quickly that small hole developed into a larger hole, until finally a substantial sized person could have crawled through the hole into the roof. The owner had the house torn down before it could succumb further to the elements and collapse.
One of the essentials to the preservation of a building is to keep roofs from leaking.
Just as the roof is important, so is the foundation. The best roof will not prevent the demise of a building that has a faulty foundation. One of the greatest agents of destruction to foundations is water.
I cringe when I think how many thousands of dollars I have spent as a homeowner trying to keep my basement from leaking. Water cannot always be removed from a foundation, but the flow of the water can be channeled. How many times have I stayed awake during nighttime thunderstorms, entrusting our Good Lord to preserve the working of my sump pump and its backup.
As it is with buildings, so it is with life. If we can help young people develop a good mind and work ethic (roof), be equipped with the necessary tools to successfully enter the work force as a good citizen (foundation), and take all possible steps to avoid the dangers of destructive forces in life (uncontrolled water), our future generations will flourish, and our great nation can look forward to entering its third century of existence without fear of failure.
During this month of liberty, let us all do our part to help this come to pass. Let the young people in your life know how vital they are to the future and how interested you are in their success and happiness. Here are some suggestions for how you might do this:

ASK A TEEN (If You Dare)
Do you believe in God?

How do you think the world will eventually end?

Have there been any books that you had to read this year that you really liked?

When you get older, will you vote as a republican, democrat, or independent?

What do you wish you were more motivated to do?

What could I do to help you feel more supported?

ANSWER TO QUESTION OF THE WEEK # 67
What inspires you to get out of bed every morning? (ANSWER: My bladder.)

QUESTION OF THE WEEK # 68
What do you ask an atom when something’s bothering it? (See next week’s article in historicunioncounty.com for the answer.)