Callie and Wyatt Christian poked the shovels into the ground on top of a Madison County hill overlooking pastureland and horses in the glow of an October Sunday.
The dirt had been broken up by family friends, made soft for the children’s digging. A sketched black and white portrait of the children’s father in his police uniform sat framed nearby in a red foldup chair. The heavy, heartfelt words had been spoken from adults who stood on top of a flatbed trailer before the large crowd of well-wishers.
They stood at the future Christian home. And that fact was made official with the children’s shovel work.
Melissa and Buddy Christian had planned that home off Griffeth Road for years, though certainly not this way. They intended to build atop the hill overlooking the farm when the finances worked out well enough, when the right time came to move from the small dwelling in the family horse barn.
“We met at 16 and married at 19,” said Melissa as she addressed the crowd at Sunday’s groundbreaking ceremony. “That started our dream. And we bought this farm in November 2000. We thought we would live there a couple of years and then build the house. Well, a coupled of years turned into 10. Last November we decided to start trying to build.”
But Buddy, a police officer, was shot in the line of duty on March 22 in Athens and taken from his wife and children.
The dream of moving to a house atop the hill appeared to end that day, too.
But local community members thought better of that. And they worked to make that dream a reality with a new two-story brick home planned for the site. A drawing of that planned home was on display Sunday. Karen Griffin, an Athens contractor, and the Athens Area Homebuilders Association have led the homebuilding effort. But they are being aided by numerous people, including plumbers and other tradesmen who offered to help with the home.
Griffin stood on the flatbed trailer Sunday, noting that the trailer sat where the garage will be. She presented a Bible to Melissa and said it will be put in a sealed bag and placed in the wall at the front door as a blessing to all who enter the home. Griffin quoted Psalm 127:1. “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain.”
Madison County commission chairman Anthony Dove spoke of Buddy Christian Sunday, saying that he was many things to many people, a father, husband, son, brother, friend, co-worker. He said people knew that Christian had a giving spirit, that he was the kind of person who aimed to help others, just as others are helping his family.
Athens Clarke County Police Chief Joseph H. Lumpkin Sr. said that Buddy Christian shouldn’t be remembered for how he died, but for how he lived.
“He’s not only heroic because of the way he died, but actually, he’s heroic because of the way he lived daily — thank God,” said Lumpkin. “… Madison County is standing with the Christian family and Athens Clarke County will stand with the Christian family.”
Charlie Upchurch, of Coldwell Banker Upchurch Realty, said that the effort to build a home for the Christian family is a way of “giving back to the community, of giving back to people and saying thank you to Buddy and what he stood for.”
“In six months, there will be a home here,” said Upchurch. “And Buddy’s going to be a part of that home.”
Melissa Christian, whose voice broke with tearfulness during a couple of statements, thanked those on hand Sunday.
“I thought our dreams vanished,” said Christian. “But thanks to you, they have not. You’ve all come together as one to help us finish our dreams. I know buddy is watching us.”
FUND-RAISER SET FOR OCT. 15
The Buddy Christian Memorial 5k Walk and Run on Oct. 15 to help raise money for the house. For more information, visit www.nobleheroes.org/events.
