My parents' last home
Dominic Vautier
12-2004
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I was discharged from the army in August 1967 and decided to stay with my parents George and Allegra Vautier at their house on 17th street which they had bought in 1962. My younger sister Marie was also living with them. I remained there for two years going to school until I left and got married in June of 1969. I have many memories of that old place.
The house was kind of rundown and needed a lot of work. At night when the wind blew everything creaked and groaned. Even though I was going to school full time at Portland University I made several changes. I removed the old sewing room in the west end of the basement and found a lot of WW2 papers that were packed behind the walls to keep it warm. There was a tree growing in the northwest corner of the basement which I dug out and destroyed the root which was apparently coming from the alder tree in front. I covered the entire basement wall with about an inch of cement sealer to try to keep out the water, which it didn't. Each winter the basement floor accumulated about in inch of water. The original cement had been poured into the forms of the foundation be wheelbarrow-full and the rock-cement mixture was very uneven. I tore up the walkway to the north and found it full of alder roots which were removed and replaced with sand. The house was built in 1906 and used gas for lighting. Each room had a plug protruding from the wall which had originally held a lamp. The basement had one of those monster spider oil heaters. The wiring was very old and only supported 20 amp 110 volts. The fuse box was just above the bath tub which seemed quite odd. There was a creaky old attic where I put a rotating TV antenna. The attic was full of spiders and cobwebs.
But I did spend many enjoyable evenings in that house, some of the best times in my life. The second floor had four rooms. My sister had the southeast room and it was full of teddy bears. Dad had the northwest room and we used the southwest room as a visitor area. It had the TV. I used the smaller bedroom on the northeast side.
Mom was unable to use the stairs so she slept in the parlor and the front room was full of all kinds of cute old stuff.
Mom died in 1971 in bed in that parlor. Sometimes I think she may have left her soul there. My dad lived another 14 years and died in 1985. My sister Marie inherited the house and had a boyfriend who lived with her. She died suddenly in 2004. She left no will.
I applied for executor and received approval from my four brothers to handle the estate. It took me a year to dispose of the estate. The house by 2005 had fallen into complete disrepair and sold for $80,000.