For special people, their own space
Family provides downstairs suites for both sets of in-laws
Date published: 6/23/2006
Family welcomed grandparents from both sides
By KATE WATERSON
AFTER SPENDING one of Minneso- ta's worst winters confined to her house, with snow covering her windows, Mae Dennison finally conceded it was time to move.
Her son, Gary Pavela, had been asking her to move to Virginia to live with him and his family at their new home on Willow Point Drive in Spotsylvania's Lee's Hill.
"I don't want to come unless Margaret agrees," Mae told her son, referring to her daughter-in-law.
Margaret knew just how to appeal to her spirited mother-in-law, and wrote her a letter saying: "It'll be an adventure. I hope you take it."
And what an adventure it turned out to be.
Not only did Margaret's mother-in-law take her up on the offer, but a few years later her own parents moved in, too.
The Pavelas said they wouldn't trade for anything the time they had with their parents before they died.
"Families and children get to know their parents, in a way that they wouldn't otherwise," Gary said of the experience.
At a time when moving elderly parents into retirement facilities is becoming the norm, the Pavelas provided an alternative for their parents by creating two self-contained apartments within their own home.
"Folks have not thought through what can be done," Gary said.
Mae was 87 when she moved in, and lived the final five years of her life in an apartment below the main house.
Her son and daughter-in-law took care to ensure that the apartment be filled with natural light, so that it felt nothing like "living in a basement."
Mae had a gas fireplace in her sitting room, which catered to her greater need for warmth, and her own kitchen and bathroom as well as a beautiful porch overlooking the pond and garden.
Now that they are empty-nesters, the Pavelas are offering their home with the in-law suites to another extended family. They've listed it with David Brewer of Century21 Adventure with an asking price of $498,000.
Margaret's parents arrive
Three months before Mae died, Margaret's parents, Chic and Bill Pots, moved in.
The Pavelas' eldest son, Greg, was about to start college at the time, so his downstairs bedroom was extended and converted into a second apartment.
Read more stories about Fredericksburg
Date published: 6/23/2006
Most recent reader comments:
Delightful Story
(posted by
Snop
, Sep. 25, 2007 2:41 pm)
What a wonderful article about taking care of family members when they are older.
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