Little Pink House_ A True Story of Defiance and Courage - Jeff Benedict [45]
From the moment the Pfizer project had been announced, Von Winkle had prepared to sell his properties. But resentment had begun to set in. He knew the NLDC had paid almost $5 million for the junkyard next door to Pfizer, which was way beyond fair market value. Other property owners closer to Pfizer had been paid far above the properties’ appraised value, too. Yet the NLDC consistently refused to offer Von Winkle what his properties were worth. Enough time had passed to convince him that the NLDC would simply take his properties through eminent domain unless he agreed to sell for less.
Susette hoped Von Winkle had finally been persuaded to help her rally the neighborhood in opposing the NLDC, but Von Winkle had other ideas. Claire and Steve Percy were messing with his livelihood. He had his own ways of dealing with them.
After living apart from her husband for nearly a year, Susette told him she wanted a divorce. Although he’d been living without her, Jorsz took it hard. To him it felt like a death in the family. He vowed he’d never marry again. Susette figured she wouldn’t either. With separation and the passage of time, she harbored no ill will toward Jorsz. Despite the problems between them, she recognized he had done a lot for her and her boys and had asked nothing in return.
Together, they hired an attorney to draft the necessary legal documents. One afternoon, the attorney telephoned Susette following a review of the couple’s financial affidavits, disclosing personal income, assets, and liabilities.
As a full-time nursing student, Susette didn’t have much to disclose:
Workers’ compensation: $90
Unemployment: $297
Child support: $75
Total: $462 per month
Her assets included her house, valued at $53,000; a used car worth $8,000; $3,000 in a mutual fund; and a checking-account balance of $1,200.
Her husband, on the other hand, had a well-paying job, a fair amount of cash tucked away in savings, and a home and property worth a lot more than the pink cottage. The divorce lawyer asked Susette if she was sure she wanted to walk away from the marriage without taking some money.
“Yes,” she said. “It’s not my money.” Her husband had inherited his money from his deceased father, long before Susette had come along. She didn’t feel right about taking money that didn’t belong to her.
The lawyer explained that she was also entitled to a percentage of Jorsz’s house, but again she declined. Her husband had purchased the house with a portion of the money he had inherited from his father. This had happened before Susette entered the picture. Making him sell the house in order for her to obtain half its value would be like the NLDC’s taking her house.
The lawyer drafted and had Susette sign a straightforward divorce settlement. It all felt anticlimactic. She had been living a separate life from her husband long before moving out on her own.
Her new friendship with Tim LeBlanc had more of what she had always looked for in a marriage. They spent weekends going to yard sales, hunting for antiques and used items to furnish her house. They spent nights eating at cheap, out-of-the-way restaurants. Both were frugal; both preferred privacy and simple pleasures. LeBlanc had quickly become more than a friend.
LeBlanc’s easygoing personality had a lot to do with the relationship’s success. Even Susette’s escalating battle against the NLDC didn’t seem to faze him. The more time Susette dedicated to saving the neighborhood, the more supportive he became. Beneath her tough exterior, Susette longed for a man to look out for her, but she didn’t want to remarry.
“I have the patience of Job,” he told her. “It doesn’t matter how long it takes.”
In lieu of marriage, she invited LeBlanc to move in with her. But he preferred his small home in the woods. Recognizing how much she loved being by the water, he didn’t try to persuade her to move back to the country, so they