Richard

Meet our hometown hero

Richard was drafted right out of high school. He served three years in the U.S. Army, two of them in Vietnam. Service ran in the family: his dad served in World War II and flew B-24s out of Naval Air Station Grosse Ile, on the same island Richard calls home today.

Back home, he spent four decades as a machine repairman at Ford. He and Betty have been married 42 years, and they still live in their first house. These days, Richard is Betty's full-time caregiver.

The house had been working against them. Some rooms and floors stayed cold while others ran warm, the system hardly ever shut off, and their energy bills ran $250 to $300 a month, all year long.