Chapel Hill House is very much the result of a life changing experience.
Larry and Annie Joseph, from Prospect, Ohio, were in search of a retirement getaway. Larry was a high school art teacher for almost 30 years and had a true passion for woodworking, woodworking tools, techniques and furniture building from the 18th and 19th centuries. Their goal was to locate a piece of land and relocate a small log home that had been previously occupied by a family descendent in Kentucky. Unfortunately, the plan to relocate that cabin fell through which meant that the Josephs’ had to look elsewhere. While driving one day, the couple happened upon a plot of land that caught Larry’s attention. At the time, a portion of the land was being used as farmland and there was no indication that it might even be available. Larry was immediately taken by the rolling hills, beautiful woods and stream that the land encompassed. Being a Kentucky native, he was very partial to these characteristics, especially when looking for a quiet place to retreat to during retirement. After a short walk through the property, he stepped through a section of tall weeds and found a For Sale sign that had fallen and was not visible from anywhere beyond a couple of feet away. Things were already starting to fall into place. Larry and Annie contacted the realtor and began the purchasing process for the land. While this process was in action, Larry continued to search for a different log home that could be relocated to their property. A short time later, he found a cabin in Caldwell, Ohio that he was interested in. The couple made the trip to Caldwell, which is located in southeastern Ohio, close to West Virginia. After looking at the run down and decrepit house, Larry determined that the logs were in good enough shape to make the move. Now that the land was in process and the cabin was located, it was time to move to the next step and finalize the mortgage. As part of the mortgage process, Larry underwent a complete physical. Little did he know that this doctor’s visit was about to change his life.
On April 27, 2001, Larry was diagnosed with stage four Colon Cancer. Suddenly, the plan to build a retirement getaway didn’t seem to have the same importance that it did just a few days earlier. Now there were conversations about surgeries, treatments, chemotherapy and the hope for remission. It wasn’t long before Larry had surgery and began treatment for his cancer. Since he was a teacher and was very close to kids for the entirety of his career, he immediately thought about what these treatments were like for children, considering he was an adult and knew first hand how difficult it was to battle cancer. It was at this point when he knew what the real purpose of his retirement project was. Larry and Annie wanted to build a place where children who were going through cancer treatments could use to spend time with their families and getaway from the hectic appointment filled schedules and time-consuming treatments that were depriving them of the joys of family time and the simplicity of just being a kid.
Larry and Annie proceeded to move forward with their new found mission by developing a plan to relocate the cabin, securing a contractor to help with the addition of a new section to the cabin that would include the kitchen and bathroom, finalizing the contract for the land and most importantly starting the process of finding the families that could possibly use a getaway such as Chapel Hill House. The Josephs’ talked to many people and investigated a few different organizations before meeting the staff at Kids n’ Kamp. Kids n’ Kamp is a non profit organization that is committed to helping families and children who have or have had cancer and who live in the central Ohio area. It didn’t take more than a conversation to realize that a golden relationship was being created between Kids n Kamp and Chapel Hill House. The staff of Kids n’ Kamp were ecstatic to have Chapel Hill House as an offering to their families. Almost immediately upon announcing the addition of Chapel Hill House to the programs being offered by Kids n’ Kamp, the weekends began to fill up.
While all of the arrangements were being made with Kids n’ Kamp, Larry was still undergoing treatments, surgeries and therapies. He spent a lot of time in the hospital and in chemotherapy, however all of the rest of his time was spent building Chapel Hill House. This was his true therapy. He had a mission to complete and with a strong will he completed his mission in time to welcome the first family to Chapel Hill House in June of 2003.
Sadly, Larry Joseph lost his three-year battle with cancer on January 5, 2005, but not before he welcomed 25 families to Chapel Hill House. Chapel Hill House is his legacy and the same healing powers that kept him going far beyond his original prognosis, are still very present at Chapel Hill House for others to experience.
