A Helping Hand to a New Homestead

County Official Makes It His Mission to Relocate a Woman Who Was Displaced

Constance Casey is independent. At 72, she is proud of her ability to live alone in her trailer and take care of herself. She doesn't ask for help, and she doesn't like to be bothered.

So when Prince William County wanted to buy the land her trailer was on in June 2005 to widen Minnieville Road, she wasn't happy.

"I was really upset," Casey said. "I was sitting on pins and needles for about a year."

But now, as she sits in her favorite recliner, she says everything worked out better than she expected.

"Thanks to Ronnie," she said.

Ronnie is Ronald Van Cleve Jr., a right-of-way agent for the county. He's the guy who told her she would have to move.

But when Casey insisted she wanted to stay in her nearly 40-foot-long trailer, Van Cleve figured out a way to make that happen. He found another patch of land toward the back of the same Woodbridge mobile home park. It was a nice spot, closer to the woods and away from the noisy road.

Then Van Cleve noticed that the trailer was older than the paperwork indicated and was in disrepair. He was not going to let Casey continue living in such conditions.

The county spent some of the relocation money to help make necessary improvements, including adding a deck and pouring a concrete parking pad. Still, with a malfunctioning heater, and more improvements needed, Van Cleve didn't think the trailer was safe enough.

"Even with all the upgrades we did, I didn't feel comfortable," Van Cleve, 50, said.

With county relocation funds quickly diminishing, Van Cleve sought other means for helping Casey by moving her to a hotel on her 72nd birthday while he looked for a more suitable location at a different trailer park.

"My concern with her was, for a person who doesn't want any help, she could fall through the cracks," Van Cleve said.

Van Cleve spent his spare time for the next two months selling Casey's trailer, finding her another and making sure everything was ready for her homecoming. His wife, Kathy, and daughters, Stacey, 26, and Julie, 19, washed the walls and had them painted, cleaned the trailer and outfitted the bedroom. When everything was ready, Van Cleve, his family, his future son-in-law and a friend who works at a moving company helped Casey move.

They even invited Casey to their Thanksgiving dinner, and when she politely declined, they brought dinner to her in the hotel room where she temporarily stayed.

"They brought turkey and potatoes and all that good stuff," said Casey, who spent 10 years doing administrative work in the Marine Corps during the Korean War and then worked at a Washington accounting firm before retiring.

For Christmas, the Van Cleve family brought her a new coffeepot. And when she moved into her new trailer in Elm Farm Mobile Home Park, Van Cleve made sure everything was perfect down to the thermostat. Casey wanted a dial instead of a digital readout, and after a lot of looking, Van Cleve found one. Even the phone was set up so that Casey, who never married, could save money on her long-distance calls to her best friend in Florida and her family in Vermont.

Van Cleve started looking out for people a little more than a decade ago, when his grandfather died and he became the guardian of his ailing uncle and aunt. While looking for an assisted-living facility for them, he realized that some people need an advocate to sort through the numerous services that are offered.

After meeting Casey, Van Cleve saw a need to help her, too.

"It was just one of those things that I felt was the right thing to do," Van Cleve said.

The Board of County Supervisors and Van Cleve's co-workers noticed as well, and he was commended for his efforts in June when he received the 2007 County Executive Award. The certificate is framed in his office, and he gave part of the $500 award money to Casey.

"This is all just icing on the cake for me because the real joy is just knowing we have helped make her life better," Van Cleve said.

Seven months after Casey moved into her new trailer, Van Cleve still calls every other week and visits once a month to see if she needs anything fixed or simply to sit and talk. The next improvement he is planning will be to paint her gray home green, her favorite color, or tan, the color of her old trailer.

Casey smiles when she speaks of all the help that Van Cleve and his family have given her.

"I just have always loved being by myself," Casey said. "I don't want anybody bossing me around."