Your Incredible Neighbors: Kindness, tenacity merge in local act of generosity

When Thom Sepic saw that Mary Highet desperately needed a new evaporative cooler and roof for her 1960s home in Sahuarita, he went right to bat.

Sepic and his wife Wendy have known Highet for a year and a half; she cares for the couple’s three cats when they’re away.

Early in April, Sepic checked the condition of Highet’s cooler and roof and determined both definitely needed replacement.

Highet told the Green Valley News she’d been worried about her roof for four years. After explaining her concerns to Sepic, a retired professor of business at Pacific Lutheran University in the Seattle-Tacoma area and a skilled handyman, he took over and said, “I don’t want you to worry; it’ll get done.”

Highet said, “He was the answer to my prayers. I turned it over to God, and Thom took up the challenge and rolled with it.”

Knowing he would need assistance, on April 9 he sent an e-mail to customer service at AdobeAir Inc. in Phoenix asking if they would consider giving him a discount on the purchase of an evaporative/swamp cooler.

The reply read, “We are happy to help by selling you the downdraft model you need for $150.” Sepic said that price is way below the list price of this evaporative cooler at local retailers.

“My first call to AdobeAir is when it all began… Not only did they sell me the correct swamp cooler for $150, but they also gave me a new motor and controller valued at about another $350 and about $1,000 worth of accessories. The only caveat was driving to Phoenix to get the cooler, motor and controller—a trip I made gladly,” he said.

Thus began a story about the generosity of five companies to help a woman in need to recoat her roof and make her home cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.

With his first request generously met Sepic wrote letters to three wholesale roofers in Tucson. They declined because this is their busy season, but one manager gave him a telephone number where he might obtain insulation boards.

Tenaciously following through, the plant manager at Atlas Roofing Corp. in Phoenix told Sepic that he had ISO boards for a customer who never took delivery; if he wanted them he should come and get them.

“I jumped at the opportunity because each of these boards is valued at $25 to $27, or about $2,500. Unfortunately, I chose to drive to Phoenix on May 8 when severe 40 to 50 mile-an-hour winds plagued our 95-mile drive back.

“With only two one-inch cinch straps holding the entire bundle of ISO boards on a 6-foot x 10-foot trailer borrowed from contractor Bob Turner of Sahuarita, only God could have enabled me to make that drive…,” Sepic said, adding that Turner gave him a check for $250 to help toward the costs.

With possession of the evaporative cooler from AdobeAir, Sepic contacted Mike of Green Valley Cooling and Heating, who knew of Highet’s problems and agreed to install the new swamp cooler and controller on her roof at no charge.

“I knew that all her years of helping others were coming back to her,” Sepic said.

As the various pieces of the project were coming together, Sepic needed material to hot mop (reseal) the roof.

A friend suggested he call the district manager for contractor sales Rob Hagel at Home Depot to see if he might help.

“Sure enough, Rob met me at Mary’s home to inspect the roof and verify that Home Depot could provide the rest of the supplies needed to finish the roofing job.

After a conference call with his boss, District Manager Mike Robbins, and all 10 managers of Home Depot stores in Tucson and Southern Arizona, they all agreed to share equally in the cost of these products.

On Thursday, May 17, the Broadway Home Depot store, managed by Chris Krueger, delivered those roofing supplies.

Sepic’s last hurdle was finding someone who would help with the actual resealing (hot mopping) of the roof using the Home Depot supplies.

“Again, I called the same three roofing managers in Tucson asking for names of roofing companies who might help.

“I was given the name of a company with a strange name and a big heart. The name was Trinity Roofing… Jim Moreno agreed to do the job for his cost to pay two of his workers and the propane to heat the asphalt at a much reduced cost.”

Sepic said if he adds up all the savings for the products he was given for free, or close to it, the figure is about $7,200; his out-of-pocket costs are only about $500.

He asks: “Is it possible to get five large companies to give so generously without somebody’s influence?”

“I am not the one who made this happen, nor do I deserve the credit. Only one person deserves all the credit—The Man Upstairs—who still answers prayers and who influenced those I called to help Mary.”

Making it happen in six weeks, Sepic calls this a “feel good” story about the kindness and generosity of five companies: AdobeAir (MasterCool Evaporative Cooler), Green Valley Cooling and Heating (installation of the evaporative cooler), Atlas Roofing Co. (the ISO insulation boards), Home Depot (all the roofing supplies to hot mop the roof) and Trinity Roofing (labor to hot mop the roof)—all of whom agreed to help Mary Highet, a woman they didn’t know.

Asked what surprised him most in this undertaking, Sepic said, “When everyone started giving me things.”

This feel-good story about a caring woman in need is also about the kind man who made all the calls and drove to Phoenix; he has had insulin-dependent diabetes for 35 years without any significant complications.

Being prudent with diet and exercise for 35 years, Sepic said he likes to believe that God kept him healthy so he could be a model for others.

He likens this deed to an old movie “Pay It Forward” starring Kevin Spacey where one young man does a kind deed for three people. When each asks how they can pay him back he tells them to ‘pay it forward’ to three more people. It takes off, multiplies, keeps going forward and thousands are the recipients of kind acts.

Ellen Sussman is a freelance writer for the Green Valley News.