Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Say Hello to Normando Ismay



As I was walking this morning I noticed a man working on the former home of I.B. Melton. On a second glance, I noticed the For Sale sign had been taken down.

I had a nice conversation with Normando Ismay, an artist known to many Pine Lakers, and now the owner of the house of a former mayor of Pine Lake.

Normando and his partner Celeste Miller bought the property and are moving in in preparation for renovations. He hopes to establish a trust to own and preserve the house. He told me he plans to build a studio on the site of the now cracked tennis court.

Normando gave me a tour of the house, which is at the moment in shambles. I took photos inside the house but promised not to post them until I can get after pictures with which to contrast them.

I'm hitting myself on the head for not getting Normando's contact information. If you pass the house and see him, say hello. He's a welcome new neighbor.

3 comments:

Donna Melton Benson said...

I would love to have his contact info. I have so many wonderful pictures of this house when it was the greatest family home ever. Mother redecorated about every 6 years. She did all the work herself. I posted some old photos on my FB site and had many remarks from people telling how much the old homestead meant to them. No one ever loved Pine Lake the way Ira B. Melton did. It broke our hearts when the house was abandoned. The people we sold to had plans to remodel. If the family can do anything to help him get the trust, please let us know. If we had known it was being sold as a foreclosure, we would have bought it back to try and protect it.

Dallas Denny said...

Thanks, Donna, for your post.

I don't seem to have Normando's contact information, but I'm sure he would be happy to talk with you. He's on the property a lot (things seem to be moving ahead smartly). If you'll send me your contact info I'll stop by your old home place and leave it for him-- or better yet, you should drop by and see for yourself what he's done.

Kathie said...

Normando's email is

phone is 678-642-3043