Virgil Warren starts work on house that his wife envisioned
Virgil Warren of Chanute is pleased as he watches the finishing stages of a home remodel project that was envisioned by his late wife.
Virgil and Loretta Warren bought their house in the 900 block of South Malcolm in Chanute about two years ago. They rented the two-bedroom, one-bath, bungalow-style house for 12 years before the purchase, he said.
Since the purchase, Loretta sketched out ideas for remodeling the home the way she wanted it. She also talked about the changes with Virgil. They never got around to starting the work. Loretta died on April 22 at age 68; the Warrens, who have no children, had been married for 48 years.
After Loretta died, Virgil said he was distraught and mourned. He rented a dumpster after a time and removed things that brought back painful memories.
“I threw everything away. The only thing I kept in here was all of our pictures and her China hutch,” he said.
“Then I said, ‘this is what we’re going to do, what she wanted.’ “I thought as a tribute to her I would just build it and do what she wanted to have done to it,” Virgil said.
“I knew what she wanted. After 48 years you can just talk,” he said.
They lived in Arizona before coming to Kansas in 1997 and settling in Chanute around 1999 or 2000. He worked at A-1 Electric for a time and then ran a home maintenance business in Chanute before retiring.
Loretta paid her way through nursing school, a profession she had until the couple moved to Kansas.
“We spent more time together in our older years; we didn’t have time in our younger years. We were real close,” Virgil said.
“Couldn’t have had a better marriage.” Once he set his mind to the remodel, he hired Krusich Construction of Chanute to do the work. The work involved foundation repair, replacing water and gas lines, adding a larger front porch, eliminating and replacing windows, new siding, a metal roof and work inside the home.
He said he followed his wife’s plans but made adjustments. He added central heat and air, removed the carpeting, repaired the floor and added linoleum. He didn’t want to vacuum the carpet that Loretta wanted so he opted for a hard-surface floor that he could Swiffer clean. He bought new cabinets and kitchen appliances and had Nathan Woodward install the cabinets. Woodward added a plaque in the kitchen that claims the space as “Virgil and Loretta’s Kitchen.” There has been other work inside the home and elsewhere on the property.
He thinks Krusich Construction has done good work on the house at a fair price and said the remodeled home compliments the neighborhood.
“It really looks nice,” Virgil said. Virgil said he is a disabled veteran, having served in the Army in the Vietnam War from 1967 to 1969. The Veterans Administration has been good to him, he said, and helped get a ramp installed at the house.
He said the projects that remain on the remodel are basically punch list items, including painting the siding when the weather warms. Some windows were to be installed as they arrived. Guttering needed to be added as well.
Virgil wants to add a swing or two to the porch. Loretta loved porch swings.
“I think she would have been real happy about it,” he said of the remodel, even though some of her ideas changed to suit his current lifestyle.
“I think she’d be pleased and proud that I’ve behaved.” He and his Pomeranian, Fred, live in the house. Loretta loved Fred, and Virgil calls the dog a lifesaver.
“He’s helped me make it through it. No matter where I go, he’s right beside my feet. And he’s mad as hell when I leave if I don’t take him. I’d hate to think what I’d be like without him,” Virgil said.
He said after the remodel, he will see if he can create a nursing scholarship at a local school in honor of Loretta.
