DuWayne and Linda Wirta’s home is full of the piles and boxes we all recognize as the signs of having just moved in. But on closer inspection you catch glimpses of their unusual treasures nestled in corners or hung on walls, the signs of a well-traveled life. Unmistakable, too, are the unusual design details incorporated into nearly every aspect of their new Belmont home.
Using three house plans as a reference, DuWayne and Linda designed their new home themselves, keeping the design details they loved and eliminating or correcting those details that didn’t fit their lifestyle. The result is a fully ADA compliant home with solar panels on the roof providing them with 11 1/2 kilowatt hours of power, a 2600-gallon cistern, a screened-in lanai with an adjoining hot tub, and an outside kitchen complete with pizza oven. They also incorporated into their plans a three-car garage, a dedicated wood shop area and a laundry room designed to double as a project or craft center, all on the ground floor. May I have a map, please!
DuWayne met Linda in a singles club in Northern Virginia in 1992. Their first encounters were a bit rocky, to say the least, as DuWayne usually arrived with a date in tow. At their June event, however, Linda finally garnered up all her nerve and asked DuWayne to dance. He initially turned her down, but surprisingly asked her for the last dance of the evening. Linda said she knew right then and there that this was the man she was going to marry. They had their first date the very next night and by August were a committed couple.
Married life took them to Japan where Linda left behind her 30-year nursing career to join DuWayne in working for the Federal Government. DuWayne, working internationally with the CIA in Greece, Germany, and Thailand, traveled extensively for the Federal Government for a total of twenty-six years. When it came time to think about retirement, he fondly recalled his youth as a country boy growing up in the small northeastern Texas town of Paris. This agricultural area was a great place to grow up, filled with friendly folks who never ever had to deal with urban gridlock. DuWayne and Linda started a search to find a place just like that.
After a few false starts, DuWayne and Linda drove through our gates and decided Albemarle Plantation had just about everything they were looking for. Their first home here, in our condos, allowed them to oversee the building of their home and begin to become acclimated to our community. Now that they have moved in, DuWayne hopes to have time to pursue his interests in golf and woodworking. A country boy at heart, DuWayne also hopes to have time to work in his yard and purchase a boat so he can do some fishing. Linda has already joined a bridge group, enjoys Pilates and Zumba workouts at our Community Center, and is looking forward to visits from the couple’s combined six children and five grandchildren. And when you meet Linda, be sure to ask her about her seventieth birthday when she held hands with Robert Di Nero at the Tribeca Grill in New York City. Yes, DuWayne was there, and they have pictures to prove it!
Welcome, DuWayne and Linda.