Chris Smith: Two old vets and a funky furnace

Sonoma County isn’t what it was when Milton Mossi was born in Petaluma 80 years ago “at the old hospital that was down on Sixth Street.”

This county is a fine place still, but Milton remembers when it was rural and the very picture of neighborliness. You can imagine the changes the Army veteran and retired janitor has seen since he moved in 1954 into the house on Petaluma’s B Street that he now shares with his cousin, Randolph Williams, who’s 72 and served as a Marine.

“There are some good people but they’re sure hard to find,” Milton said. Especially since he lost a leg to diabetes, he’s had a tough time getting around, so for that and other reasons he and Randolph pretty much keep to themselves.

They had to call for some help when the weather started to cool and they found the old house’s furnace wasn’t working so well. One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning sent out technician Bill Watson, who discovered that the ducts were chewed up by rodents.

Watson replaced the ducts. While testing the furnace, he found it worked only intermittently. He asked colleague Tyler Flora to take a look.

The two of them conferred in turn with One Hour production manager Kevin Schaff, who determined it would be better to replace the furnace than to repair it. Milton, who retired on a modest budget after many years of work as a janitor for the Sonoma Developmental Center and then for the Post Office, grimaced at the thought of what that would cost.

Schaff told higher-ups at the heating and AC firm about the two elderly military vets in Petaluma who could use a hand. There was a discussion of helping Milton and Randolph through the company’s Neighborhood Heroes Project.

Days later, Schaff and One Hour’s general manager, Rick Chandler, showed up on B Street and installed a new furnace, at no cost.

“I cried,” Milton said. “In fact I cry a little now just thinking about it. A grown man like me should not be crying.”

Some good things have happened to him through his 80 years in Petaluma, but he’s feeling that this was the best.

HABITAT for Humanity completed its first home in Sonoma County in 1991. Since then, the local affiliate of the nonprofit famously favored by Jimmy Carter has, with much volunteer effort and the sweat equity of the future homeowners, built 21 more homes.

At a breakfast days ago, local Habitat leaders unveiled a “Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal” - to construct another 22 homes within just one year, and in short order to boost the production of homes for low-income families to 50 a year.

Meeting that goal in this county, of all places, will require many hands. Two things we can do to help are shop at ReStore, Habitat’s remarkable furniture and home-improvement emporium on Santa Rosa's Piner Road, and tell a friend.

Chris Smith is at 521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @CJSPD.