Meet Dick Cecil
Dick Cecil and his wife Nancy spent their whole life living in Lorain County and loved it, so when they learned about Kendal at Oberlin soon after it opened in 1993 they were intrigued.
“Four women from our First Congregational Church in Lorain moved there and thought it was wonderful so we decided to take a look,” Dick says.
Fast forward 20 years and they joined the Priority List and in 2018 became residents. “We moved to Kendal a year earlier than we planned but we never had any regrets. I just wish Nancy, who died two years ago, could have enjoyed it longer,” he says
The couple became co-chairs of Kendal’s House Committee, keeping tabs on small details such as replacing lightbulbs and bigger concerns like replacing aging lounge furniture.
After Nancy’s death Dick decided to turn his attention elsewhere, starting with a house of another sort.
“Nancy had bought the dollhouse kit over 30 years ago and all the paint and furniture for it, but she never had the time to put it together. So, in her memory and in honor of her I decided to make it,” he says.
He worked on the house for 10 months in his apartment, turning a kitchen counter into a work space. He finished the dollhouse a year ago and would invite residents inside to see it. Dick is photographed above with the dollhouse. Their accolades inspired him to enter the dollhouse in the biannual “Kendal Creates” exhibit, which closes Aug. 18.
“I’ve been told more than once that it’s the star of the show,” he says.
The three-story house is painted in “colonial blue” and white trim. His son helped him build a base with a turntable so the house can be gently rotated and his daughter bought miniature people. On top of the house is a placard with a tribute to Nancy.
The couple’s hobby
For more than 30 years the couple rented spaces in gift and antique shops in several locations, the last one being in Oberlin. The name of their business was “Love is in the Aire,” which specialized in music boxes, dolls, teddy bears and antiques of many types. “We had fun and met a lot of people, and it was something we loved to do together,” he says.
The shop closed about the time they were getting ready to move to Kendal, and that’s when Nancy’s organizational skills really came in handy. She decided what would fit and where in their new home and made arrangements to auction off the business inventory. “We had everything in place the day we moved here” he says.
They first stored the dollhouse kit in Kendal’s Craft Room but later moved it back to their apartment. It was still in its original box and had barely been opened.
Dick says his “main mission” now is to do things that will bring joy to those he lives with at Kendal.
For instance, he has a shelf outside his apartment and likes to decorate it with items from Nancy’s various collections. He donated six trees to The John Bartram Arboretum at Kendal at Oberlin in memory and honor of Nancy and planted some colorful hosta in a nearby public space.
He sees his two sons who live nearby weekly and his daughter near Columbus monthly.
“I have eight grandchildren and hope the dollhouse becomes a family heirloom,” he says, adding “Nancy and I had a wonderful life together.”