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Show NORTH COUNTY NEWSPAPERS Thursday, October 18, 2007 MENDING FENCES Widowed mother of 13 gets extreme home makeover Page 20 -- -li. Bki j It , 1 i . n n - -4 " i IL " iH tug J I f I , ip 1 .-filr1 111' JJUj i lllf f 111 . . , - ' -; -.L ; .,.- : ... . .t j, MARIO RUIZOaily Herald ebecca King stands in her backyard next to a Macey's shopping cart that crashed through her fence early Friday morning. The fence has been boarded jp and repaired several times from the repeated late night offense of hitting shopping carts with cars to send them speeding through parking lots. To) V 11 li. fl fS ST2 T'l f "1 TS Dii ft o hi I T3 1 ruieis TO SHQSD YOln CASH Utah County News ww.heraldextra.com ' Till IS HE PLACE Ue new Family First Piyson Branch at the ' Payson Wal-Mart Superccntcr is now open, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through m. . ; - r Saturday. Please j FCHlHy FlfSt join di for our t j fCreM. , i Crand Opening Bc&famia Coratsb. 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STATE OREM 655-1140 A .uji, lr - v. i z r : iffliamTfmiiiii ilfiriIl!ll!fil i i t 615 acre recreational estates underground utilities electric, phone state-of-the-art water system restrictive covenants architectural review committee i well-maintained roads year-round access MDUKTA1H ESTATES cull B01 36B 0272 soldiersummit.com marketed through: David Cunningham Bankers Realty developed by. Nii Reva Bowen NORTH COUNTY STAFF When Margie Pratt recently had her family move her from her Orem home for three v weeks, she suspected that a project to take some asbestos from a hallway was underway, and she hoped that the broken windows downstairs were about to be fixed. But until the eventful day of "the unveiling," the widowed mother of 13 had no idea that her home had been completely gutted and remodeled remod-eled from the plumbing and electricity on up. "I was overwhelmed," Margie said of her initial reaction. "For probably the first week or so, I would go into the bathroom and wonder if I was in some kind of hotel or something!" "There were so many people involved that to a person wanted to be anonymous," said Mike Pratt of Orem, Margie's son. "It was a time when dreams and destiny came together." "There were angels all around us," said Mary Wright of Highland, a daughter. "Wonderful people would just hear of it, and wanted to be involved." Mike said he and his siblings had dreamed about someday remodeling the home the family fam-ily has lived in for 25 years, but did not have the means until two contractors, who had separately felt inspired to offer the help to Margie, approached Mike about the work. What followed was the intense, in-tense, three-week blitz of contractors, con-tractors, subcontractors and suppliers joining with Margie's children, in-laws and 34 grandchildren grand-children to affect the transformation. transfor-mation. At least two members of the family were scheduled to be there at all times, but the schedule was soon forgotten as everyone became more and more involved and the work proceeded almost non-stop. Even strangers who did not know Margie personally participated, par-ticipated, and each person who came caught the spirit of the endeavor doing their part, and more, Mary and Mike agreed. "Two days before the 'reveal,' 're-veal,' a guy wanted to come and work, and he stayed until 1 in the morning, washing windows and doors, and cleart-ing, cleart-ing, and he doesn't even know Mom," Mike said. "He jusf wanted to be part of it." "Everyone was so involved, and spent so much time here," Mary said. "So many times, we just bawled how kind people are," Mike said. To maintain the surprise, Margie had been sent to live with Mary, and commuted to her job at the University Mall by public transportation, so she would not be tempted to drive by the house and see what was happening. The neighbors had been given notes explaining the project and the need for secrecy, but Margie said other people who knew her would occasionally ask what was happening to her house. "I would say, T don't know and don't tell me,'" Margie laughed. "I did at one time question how people could see something going on, when I thought it was the basement (being worked on)." On the big day, three of Margie's Mar-gie's sons called her and told her to meet them at a store, then they brought her to the home and handed her a remote control to open the door to the new garage. ga-rage. All of her family members were inside, waving, as the door came up. There followed the first of a series of tearful tours. "It was emotional," Mary said. "There were these cute workers' wives crying, too." Margie is enjoying her new office, built near the front door, and the irony of having three bathrooms for the three people now living in the house, where there was one bathroom when she was raising her large family. But the best part, the Pratts believe, is the big room in the basement, with space enough for everyone to gather on Sundays. "All my hopes are realized," Mary said, "to see the grand-kids grand-kids running down, and there's room for everyone." Margie's husband, John, died suddenly in 1994 of a heart attack, and family members wonder if the new house is more than a coincidence. "It was his birthday, the day after she moved back in," Mike said. "We wonder if it wasn't his gift to her, in some way." n TUTORING CLUB: Reading, Math, Writing, Custom Tutoring, GED Prep., and ACT Prep. 79 S. State Orem, UT 229-CLUB (2582) tan m m n t n rtrrroyrewM Happy Halloween from 'Precious Pet $5 off any service Call for an appointment p 801-492-7746 ,C 1 Expires 110107 rninkrrrJnE;: . 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