By Molly Lovell
Staff Writer

Jeannine and Herbert “Woody” Wood celebrate 55 years of marriage today in a new home that’s sure to last at least that long.
Through help from York County Community Action and members of the Kennebunk community, the couple’s Western Avenue home has been replaced with a new, safe and energy-efficient home.
“I didn’t think it could have happened to us,” Jeannine said.
The couple purchased their home in 1971 for $12,500.
“Thirty-eight years ago we had to put 10 percent down, which was about $1,000. That was a lot, and all we could afford,” Jeannine said.
Jeannine and Woody moved from Sanford into their new home with their son, Richard, who was 13 at the time.
The home had a dirt floor in the basement and didn’t have storm windows, but Jeannine said it was a good home for her family.
The Woods raised their son and both worked at the Kesslen Shoe Mill. Woody later worked at Bradbury Market in Cape Porpoise.
As years passed, windows in the house became increasingly drafty, floors and ceilings fell apart and it became more difficult to heat the home because of poorly insulated walls, Jeannine said.
The couple was spending about $800 a month on heat, when Jeannine sought fuel assistance from the town.
It was then that YCCAC, along with volunteers and town officials, stepped in to assist the couple. Jeannine described herself as a “pack rat,” and had many things that were either discarded, or put in storage until the couple’s new home was ready.
In June, volunteers emptied their home and Woody and Jeannine moved into The Lodge in West Kennebunk for three months while their new house was built.
They checked on the progress of their new home and picked up their mail every couple days, Jeannine said.
Finally, Sept. 10, the couple moved in.
“It felt nice,” Jeannine said.
She said they feel settled in, but Jeannine still hasn’t used the new stove yet because she doesn’t want to get it dirty.
In Woody and Jeannine’s new home is a framed old photo from the day the two were married.
In the 1950s, Woody served in the Army during the Korean War, and eventually began receiving letters from a girl he had never met.
It was common for Americans to write to soldiers, even if they never had before. Jeannine said it was a way to show support for troops while keeping them informed of current events back in the United States.
At the time, Jeannine’s sister worked in a catalogue office in Sanford, where she and some of her friends began writing to soldiers in the war. Jeannine was encouraged to do the same, and developed a “pen-pal” relationship with Woody.
Woody finished his time in the Army in 1953 and went home to Boston, where eventually he traveled by train to North Berwick to meet Jeannine face to face for the first time.
“He said he would be wearing a long, gray coat and I wore a Christmas corsage on my lapel,” Jeannine said.
“He said, ‘Hi, I’m Woody,’ and that was it,” Jeannine said with a laugh.
The couple traveled back and forth to visit one another, before getting married in 1954.
“My father said it wouldn’t last,” Jeannine said.
Fifty-five years later, the couple will celebrate with a fresh start, in a new home.
The anniversary plans?
“Hopefully going to Olive Garden in Biddeford,” Jeannine said.

Molly Lovell can be contacted at 282-4337, ext. 223 or news@kennebunkpost.com.