Seniors lend a helping hammer – Elderly Islander is honored for his work building houses for the poor

By Cody Ellerd

By Cody Ellerd

He was one of the “Wednesday Regulars,” but the way 82-year-old Stan Haven spent his Wednesdays over the last seven years was hardly regular at all.

Wearing a hard hat and carrying a lunch he had packed for himself the night before, Haven would leave his house on Mercer Island for construction sites around Seattle to help erect houses for the homeless.

Haven and the other three “Regulars,” Haven’s buddies from church, have been honored as part of Senior Appreciation Week, declared by Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels for the first week of October to recognize active seniors who serve the community. The Foss Home, a non-profit nursing home, saluted the men at a recent reception for their enduring volunteer work for Habitat for Humanity, a non-profit organization that works to build affordable housing for families in need.

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“It’s truly amazing that at that age, they would be willing to commit the way they have,” said David DeLap, the lead site supervisor for Habitat for Humanity’s construction projects. “Despite their age, they’re willing to tackle new things and they’re great learners.”

Haven spent 42 years working as an accountant for a trucking company before retiring 14 years ago. With his slight frame and gentle demeanor, it is certainly easier to imagine the longtime Mercer Island resident sipping from a Dixie Cup by a water cooler than chugging back Pepsi, like the guy on the now-famous soft drink commercial. But despite never having tackled more than typical household handyman chores, Haven picked up a hammer at age 75 and went to work on his first house.

“Everything was done from scratch,” Haven said.

From clearing dirt to make room for a house to laying its foundations and installing its cabinets, the Wednesday Regulars have had a hand in just about everything. Site supervisors would direct the projects and help the men learn the ropes of construction work.

Under Habitat for Humanity’s program, Haven’s group worked side-by-side with the families who would one day move into the homes they were building, giving the Regulars a special connection to those whose lives their work would be improving.

“The people that were getting the houses were so appreciative,” Haven said. “You could see how happy they were.”

Haven particularly remembers a woman one Wednesday who showed her thanks by cooking them an Ethiopian lunch.

“You weren’t sure what you were eating, but we ate it and we all survived,” he recalled.

Being a Wednesday Regular also meant enduring the winters (they weren’t called the Summer Wednesday Regulars, after all). Working year-round, at times in the cold air with rain overhead and mud underfoot, Haven said they were always happy when they got a roof onto a house and were able to work inside.

On windy and rainy days when even the younger, stronger volunteers didn’t show up to work, DeLap said, the Wednesday Regulars were always there. On the rare sunny day during the winter, DeLap, who has supervised the four during nearly all of their time on-site, was equally impressed.

“I’d look at those guys at the end of the day and think, `they don’t have many of these sunny days left in their lives.’ And the fact that they would come out there and give it to someone else was just amazing,” he said.

Over seven years and more than 60 houses built, it’s easy to see why the Wednesday Regulars have stuck together for so long. Like Haven, Dick Ellison was an accountant for a trucking company. Ron Bensley was a truck owner and driver, and Chuck Swanson worked as a Boeing engineer.

They show the same devotion to the church where they all belong as they have to the Habitat program that Gethsemane Lutheran put them in touch with. From the numbers experts in their midst who mind the church’s books to the brewmaster who keeps the coffee perking for the congregationists on Sunday, these men clearly have a shared loyalty to their community every day of the week.

Haven said they are just as good about honoring their Friday morning committment to each other, when they meet on the golf course “rain or shine.”

Because of his faltering hearing, Haven is no longer able to work on the construction sites. His other regular activities, however, keep him quite busy.

On top of providing accounting services for his own church, Haven cares for the grounds around the Emmanuel Episcopal Lutheran Church across the street from his house. He helps out his son with running his business. The pumpkins and corn growing in his garden enjoy Haven’s regular attention, as does his dog “Britt,” who gets four regular walks per day.

Devoting his time to helping others is as natural for Haven at 82 as it was when he started building houses at 75. Any day of the week, it’s what any Regular would do.