PALM COAST – Sandra Holley, the widow of a Vietnam veteran, was watching an old favorite TV miniseries, “Centennial,” and one scene – involving the death of a Native American warrior – resonated.
“In their culture, when the warrior dies, the wife has basically what she’s wearing,” Holley said. “The other ladies in her tribe, they take her possessions.”
The scene, Holley said, revealed a “big similarity” with how she has felt since her husband Alton’s death in 2023.
A gift from a Palm Coast roofing company and its partners has given Holley a different feeling: Gratitude.
On Monday, Dec. 9, AK Certified Roofing came to Holley’s Palm Coast home and installed a new roof. For free.
The gift stemmed from a partnership between the roofer and Owens Corning, a corporation that manufactures roofing shingles and other products, and the nonprofit Purple Heart Homes.
Since its 2017 founding, AK Certified Roofing has completed a stringent program to become Owens Corning-certified, one of just over 50 roofers in Florida. The Roof Deployment Project, a nationwide effort to show gratitude and honor veterans and the families who support them, was an extension of that partnership, said owner Andrew DiGaetano.
Since 2016, more than 625 military members have received new roofs from the Owens Corning Roof Deployment Project.
The Holley home was AK Certified Roofing’s first giveback.
“We plan on doing at least one or two a year as long as we can,” DiGaetano said.
The business opened a contest to find a worthy recipient on social-media platforms and working through veterans service organizations including area DAVs and VFWs.
“We had a lot of good applicants, a lot of worthy people and I hope if they haven’t had their roof replaced, that they’ll apply for it next time,” DiGaetano said.
Workers replace an 18-year-old roof on the home of a deceased Vietnam veteran’s wife in Palm Coast on Monday, Dec. 9, 2024.
Holley said her husband served in the U.S. Air Force in Vietnam from 1962 to 1966. One of his duties was loading Agent Orange onto the aircraft that would drop the chemical defoliant that has caused numerous health problems.
“He had the demons that went along with being a Vietnam vet,” Holley said. “And he was affected by Agent Orange, and as time went on, it affected him more and more and more.”
He was 18 years her senior. They met at karaoke night in a bar in Cartersville, Georgia, in 1999. She sang “Desperado.” He liked her voice.
After the Georgia natives married, they moved to Palm Coast in August 2014.
On the night of their wedding anniversary the following April, Alton suffered a stroke that left him blind. Parkinson’s Disease and dementia diagnoses followed.
When Alton Holley died at age 84 last year, Sandra Holley saw her income drop 45%, and she has struggled to make ends meet.
“To be honest and frank, with the decrease in income due to his passing, there’s no way I could afford a roof. I mean, it’s just simply not there,” she said. “And Andrew was gracious enough, and I was fortunate enough, and I will never have enough words to thank him.”
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Giving back: Palm Coast roofer brings joy to Vietnam veteran’s widow