Howard and Cheryl Dillow had no troubles explaining why they were eager to be a part of Sunday’s Holiday Homes Tour.
First of all, they love Christmas and time with family the holiday affords. Secondly, they love animals.
Cheryl confesses that she cannot volunteer at Allen County Animal Rescue Facility “because I’d be too tempted to bring an animal home with me each day I went.”
Finally, the Dillows love their home, which they spent months planning before its construction in 1998-99 on the outskirts of Gas.
The Dillow home, at 1331 2000 St., is one of five featured in the homes tour from 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday as a fundraiser for ACARF.
Cheryl noted one concern with opening her house to visitors.
While she typically adorns most rooms with some sort of Christmas decor, she wondered if her efforts were sufficient.
“Do we have enough Christmas decorations out?” she asked a visitor.
She needn’t have worried.
The Dillows’ two-level home is elegantly decorated with family keepsakes and collectible Santas, a winter scene and a Christmas village.
Much of the Christmas village came from Special Reflections, a gift and decor store Cheryl owned in Iola for six years.
“About the only thing extra we got this year was another tree and a couple more strings of lights,” she confessed.
The house’s ground floor contains the most decorations, with Christmas trees in the dining room, master bedroom and family room. Lighted garland decks the halls. In the kitchen sits a display of Santa Claus plates.
“Our grandchildren love to use the Santa plates,” Cheryl said, “and it didn’t make sense to use them just one day a year, so now we’ll use them all month.”
In their basement game room is another tree, next to a mantle featuring Santa Claus figurines. The tree also is dedicated to St. Nick, with an assortment of ornaments bearing his likeness. Instead of a star, the tree is topped with a Santa hat.
Stockings for their three sons, Brian, Stephen and Michael, are nearby, even though the boys are now men with children of their own.
“It wouldn’t be right not having those stockings,” Cheryl noted.
CHERYL’S BIGGEST concern prior to Sunday’s tour is Sophie, the family’s French bulldog puppy. While not quite a year old, Sophie is practically full-grown, but without the maturity of her older canine companion, Reba.
“Sophie is just like a toddler,” Howard said with laugh. “You have to watch her constantly because she loves putting things in her mouth.”
Especially Christmas tree skirts.
The Dillows’ dining room tree may look a bit skimpy after being felled by Sophie earlier this week. “Broke a couple of ornaments,” Howard said. “We just have to keep an eye on her.”
Sophie and Reba, a 14-year-old dachshund, are bona fide family members.
Howard recalled getting Reba as a puppy in November 1996. “I thought she looked like a little, red rat,” he chuckled.
Reba’s arrival meant a bit of adjusting for Howard.
“When I grew up, I was never a lover of having dogs inside the house,” he said. “That was our family rule.”
Still, he relented.
And he found himself appreciating Reba’s companionship a few months later, when he underwent double bypass surgery and was idled about eight weeks.
“For that eight weeks, Reba never left his side,” Cheryl recalled. “To be honest, she’s never left it since.”
But Reba has slowed considerably since then. Her eyesight is poor, and her liver and kidneys are weakening, Cheryl said.
Knowing the Dillows’ attachment to Reba, their veterinarian, Dr. Darrell Monfort, encouraged the couple to find a companion for her — and for them after Reba is gone.
Enter Sophie, filled with the vim and vigor of any puppy.
“Reba still lets her know who’s boss,” Cheryl said with a smile.
The Dillows have yet another dog, Gunner, a chocolate Labrador retriever kept outdoors. Gunner was recently adopted from a friend who moved away.
“We’ll let Gunner in the garage to keep warm when it’s cold out,” Howard said.
Their attachment to their dogs is why Cheryl is so supportive of ACARF and its quest to find homes for healthy cats and dogs.
“We know how much work goes into raising a dog,” Cheryl said. “Once you get a pet, you have it for life. A lot of people don’t realize that.”
THE DILLOWS built their house atop a sprawling, 13-acre tract just north of Morgan Street on the edge of Gas. The hillside setting gives the Dillows a picture-perfect view of much of Iola, Gas and surrounding cropland.
The house was built from Cheryl plans. “The contractor did some tinkering as well,” she said.
Those plans almost were derailed as crews prepared to pour the foundation. When digging into the hillside to create a level work surface, the workmen found solid shale, Howard said.
Rather than dynamite and clear it, the Dillows built up, bringing in 118 truckloads of dirt for the house’s base.
“With each load, we’d back our pickup, stand in the bed and look around to see what kind of view we’d have,” Cheryl noted.
“We probably have the best view of anybody when Gas has its Fourth of July celebration,” Howard said. “And you won’t believe the number of deer we can watch walk across our yard.”
A small pond 50 yards away adds a popular attraction for grandchildren, ages 2 to 19, and family get-togethers and church picnics.
For the past 14-plus years, Cheryl has managed the Russell Stover Candies store in Iola. Howard worked for more than 25 years at Haldex Brake as a purchasing manager. He lost his job a month ago when the plant announced it was closing.
“I’m not worried a bit,” said Howard, who will begin his job search in earnest after the holidays. “We have a lot of faith it will work out,” Cheryl added.
“We have no intention of going anywhere. We had this built as our retirement home and that’s where we’ll stay.”
