Lilburn raises the roof for couple, centennial

Gregory Jacquet was driving along Main Street in Lilburn last month when he spotted 80-year-old Katron Sosebee nailing a large tarp to an old roof.

Flagged down by Sosebee's wife, Jacquet pulled into the driveway. "You need to make him come down off the roof," Christy Sosebee said, hoping Jacquet could talk some sense into her husband. A city code enforcement officer, Jacquet gripped the ladder firmly as the longtime Lilburn resident slowly climbed down.

But he didn't stop there. The couple's situation weighed heavily on him. The one-story brick house needed a new roof, new front and back porches, shutters, landscaping, a driveway and a paint job. And the Sosebees didn't appear to have the means to make repairs, Jacquet said.

His solution: an extreme makeover, Lilburn style. Beginning today, Jacquet is leading a 10-week, all-volunteer effort to rehabilitate the exterior of the house, which sits along the city's main drag.

"I kept seeing him up there in my mind," said Jacquet, who did not know the Sosebees. "That's when I was reading in the Bible about putting faith and works together."

Rebuilding Together Gwinnett County is donating most of the materials and providing up to 30 volunteers. The cost: about $7,000, said Bob Stanton, president of the organization that makes homes safer for seniors and the disabled.

For his part, Jacquet is building the shutters and gathering city volunteers. He's also working with other sponsors to pay for landscaping and driveway graveling.

"We do rely on individuals to take care of their homes, but sometimes they can't," said Mayor Diana Preston, a volunteer herself. "This is kind of like a small town taking care of residents."

Historically, the city has tidied up and mowed lawns, planted foliage at subdivision entry ways and painted houses. But they've never overhauled an entire home, Preston said.

This one is getting special treatment, in part, because the original structure was built in 1910 -- the same year the Gwinnett municipality of 11,500 was incorporated. The project is a natural tie-in with the city's centennial celebration -- it's even dubbed the "Centennial Makeover Project."

"It kind of ties together in a completely unplanned way but in a really cool way," said Bethany Nash, the city's marketing and events manager. "And Greg has such a caring heart."

Katron Sosebee bought the house in 1958 for $6,000. The renovations mean the world to him.