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Dillards have made historic Sayles house part
of family
By Bill Whitaker
Although only 2 when his parents began the painstaking work
of restoring Abilene's historic Sayles home, 24-year-old Tom Dillard
today feels like he had a major role in transforming the place.
His mother says he did.
"He could correctly identify all the different power saws
at age 4," Kay Dillard said, "and could bring us the
right saw if we asked for, say, a circular saw."
Certainly resurrecting the old, two-floor, 13-room Sayles home
at South 7th and Sayles Boulevard was a family passion, which
is why Kay Dillard, her son Tom and daughter Ginger are excited
about the unveiling of a state historical marker this Sunday.
Besides recognizing a house turned back into a home, it also
acknowledges the contributions of Richard Dillard, the low-key,
soft-spoken head of the household, not just for his work with
the Sayles home but in preserving Abilene's past in general.
Richard, 51, died in 1995, but members of the Abilene Preservation
League and Taylor County Historical Commission -- both of which
he was long affiliated with -- will be on hand at 2 p.m. Sunday
to recognize the Dillard family's dedication.
"Kay told me the other day she spent like 12 hours cleaning
or painting or possibly both," historical commission president
Jack Holden told me. "All I can say is, she still has a lot
of energy!"
THE MONEY PIT?
A lot of us have been keeping an eye on the Dillards' dream
house since the late 1970s, when Richard and Kay moved on to the
property. Gradually we've seen the 1889 home take shape, too,
though none of it came easy.
"It was a challenge, let me tell you," Kay told me.
"This home had been vacant six years before we bought it.
The second floor was burned out, the first floor had been vandalized,
and the yard was overgrown.
"Jack Sayles had to tell us there was even a patio on
the south side of the house. It was that overgrown."
Kay admits the film "The Money Pit," a comedy about
a couple restoring an old home, struck a weirdly recognizable
chord for the Dillards. They are only the third family to live
in the historic dwelling.
Henry Sayles Sr., a prominent real estate attorney in Texas,
built the home several years after Abilene itself was founded.
He later gave the home to his son, John Sayles III.
By the early 1970s, however, the old home was closed up and
some of its precious woodwork had been removed. Nevertheless,
the Dillards, still new to Abilene, fell in love with the old
place.
"There were times when we were just overwhelmed,"
Kay said of the restoration they undertook. "But one of the
things that made us connect back in college was this idea of getting
a big old home and restoring it. We like the feel of an old home
and we also like the challenges of restoring it."
Jack Sayles was understanding of the young couple's situation.
He asked only that they pay taxes and insurance on the house the
first three years while they endeavored to restore the place to
such a condition they could get a loan to buy it.
And so the Dillards, with young son Tom in tow, set to work.
SHEETROCK AND SUPPER
"Our living room for six years had no furniture in it,"
Kay remembered. "It had saw-horses and work tables and equipment."
The kitchen was the first room Kay insisted be restored, "because
I absolutely refused to cook with sheetrock falling into the pots."
Fortunately, others helped out. One morning, for instance,
the Dillards -- then living in a garage apartment beside the old
Sayles home -- were awakened by a pounding at about 7:30. They
opened the door to find family friend James Boyett.
He said they needed to get up and get dressed.
They asked why.
"He said, 'Because there are about 15 folks here to help
sheetrock your house.' They had tools with them and everything.
It was like a modern-day barn-raising, and they worked from 7:30
in the morning till about 3 in the afternoon.
"At one point, I sat down and started bawling, and James
said, 'You got two minutes to do that and then you got to get
back to work!' "
The Dillards never regretted the commitment to their home,
even though the work and cost were immense, especially while raising
two children. Years later, when Richard Dillard realized his own
life was coming to an end, he went home to die.
By then, the old house at South 7th and Sayles had been a home
for a long time. Except that, despite what you might read on any
historical marker, it was really the Dillard home.
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Copyright ©1996 or
1997, Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps. Publications
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