Heritage Manor residents back home

Residents of Heritage Manor in Houghton can now return to life as normal.

A ceremonial ribbon cutting was held to officially announce that the renovations to the fire and water damaged building are complete and all of the residents are back home.

41 senior citizens were evacuated after a fire broke out on the fifth floor in August 2012.

The residents then faced seven months of living in temporary places while their apartments were repaired.

The ribbon cutting marked the end to a long ordeal.

“I think it’s closure for us,” Sherry Hughes of the Houghton Housing Commission said.

“We can kind of put this behind us now and go on with the new, and it was really important to us, too, to be able to thank everyone.

The community support that we had, we would have never made it through without.”

At the ceremony…emotions were hard to hold back as Heritage Manor resident Hazel Tepsa thanked those who made it possible for everyone to come home.

“Last, but not least, our thank you to a great office and maintenance staff, Sherry, Jennifer, Gail, Carl and Wade, who put in such long hours,” Tepsa said.

“And I’m sure their home life was somewhat disrupted with the whole situation.

We love you guys and gals, and again, thank you and God bless you all.”