Waukegan Woman Donates 115 Year-Old Home to Nonprofit Housing Organization

A generous Waukegan community advocate who inherited a 115 year-old home from a former Lake County News-Sun employee has donated it to the Affordable Housing Corporation of Lake County.

The three-bedroom single family house at 920 North Avenue in Waukegan belonged to Mary (May) Lockhart, a Scottish immigrant who for many years worked as secretary to the newspaper’s editor. Lockhart, who died at the age of 92 last year, left the home to her lifelong friend and caretaker, Marilynn Moisio.

“I decided to donate the house to the Affordable Housing Corporation of Lake County because I am confident how well they run the organization and I’ve seen how they help the community,” said Moisio at a recent event honoring her long-time volunteerism and commitment to the Lake County community. “May would be thrilled to know her home is helping the community,” said Moisio.

The donated home was rehabilitated and sold to a local family according to Rob Anthony, the nonprofit’s executive director. The proceeds, he said, will be used to acquire and rehabilitate other blighted properties in the community which will then be sold at affordable prices to other working families. “The beauty of this donation is that it never ends,” said Anthony. The sales proceeds from each home will be recycled to repair property after property and help family after family. “Marilyn’s gift will continue to improve the local housing stock, strengthen neighborhoods and house families into the future– what a wonderful legacy that Marilyn and May leave the community,” he said.

Lockhart, whose parents, John and Mae, emigrated from Scotland in 1930 when she was 7, graduated from Waukegan High School in 1942 and attended the Chicago Business School. She taught Sunday school, participated in women's bible study and sang in the choir at First Congregational United Church of Christ in Waukegan. It was at church that Lockhart met Marilyn and Dennis Moisio who became close friends and eventually caretakers for Lockhart. When Lockhart passed away last year, she left her cherished home to Marilyn Moisio who decided to donate it to AHC.

Moisio said that Lockhart would have approved because she was extremely generous. Lockhart was also familiar with AHC because the organization’s Director of Real Estate Services, Mike Mader, attended the same church and often helped Lockhart with repairs on her home. As it turned out, Mader's grandparents, also from Scotland, sponsored the Lockhart family when they originally immigrated. A painting that Mader's grandfather gave the Lockhart family in Scotland hung on the living room wall at 920 North Avenue for over 50 years. The painting now hangs in Mader's living room.

ABOUT THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING CORPORATION

The Affordable Housing Corporation of Lake County (AHC) is a HUD-certified 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that empowers communities and residents to rent homes, buy homes, repair homes and save homes from foreclosure in Lake County. More information is available at www.ahclc.org.