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Operation 'Extreme Makeover' underway

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Jim Noelker Ty Pennington of ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" films the demolition of the Terpenning family home in Beavercreek, Aug. 1.

By Jim DeBrosse, Staff Writer Updated 12:42 AM Sunday, August 2, 2009

BEAVERCREEK — The U.S. Air Force rescued James Terpenning as a young orphan from Vietnam during Operation Babylift in 1975, and they returned Saturday, Aug. 1, to help build his family’s new home in what might be called Operation Extreme Makeover.

“It’s an honor to be here,” said Lt. Gen. Jack Hudson, commander of the Aerospace Systems Center at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, where Terpenning, 40, is a civilian computer specialist.

Terpening, who uses a wheelchair after a childhood bout with polio, learned Thursday that he had won a free new home from the ABC TV reality show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” to better accommodate his wife Shannon, four small children and his adopted brother, Joseph, who also uses a wheelchair because of his cerebral palsy.

Demolition of the three-bedroom ranch at 548 Carthage Drive began at 1 p.m. Saturday with a half-dozen airmen from Wright-Patterson lifting the wooden wheelchair ramp from the front yard and into a waiting military truck while 400 spectators and other volunteers applauded wildly.

The Air Force will donate the ramp to a disabled veteran, Hudson said.

In a tribute to the Terpenning’s four children, who love board games, the producers of the show created a gambling wheel with pictures of demolition equipment, including a backhoe, bulldozer and jackhammer. With each spin of the wheel, a new piece of equipment was used to tear down the house.

Terpenning’s co-worker Cindy Vetere and his former supervisor, Col. Sue Busler, nominated him for the makeover in October. Vetere, a godmother to one of Terpenning’s children, said space in the 1,200-square-foot ranch was “extremely tight.”

Terpenning isn’t the kind to complain, though, she said. “He’s never down, and he’s always there to help everyone else.”

“We can’t wait for (the house) to get finished so we can see what it looks like,” said Fay Ferguson, who has lived across the street from the Terpennings for 10 years. “They really deserve this.”

Ed and Fay Ferguson’s frontyard was the VIP viewing stage for the demolition. Next door to the Fergusons, Mary Ellen Elliott’s three sons — Caleb, 17; Andrew, 15, and Luke, 10 — had their own VIP stage atop the Elliott’s attached garage.

“Mom’s a little nervous,” Mary Ellen said. “I keep telling them just sit and be good.”

The Terpennings have been whisked away to Disney World on a paid weeklong vacation while their new home is being built. Local home builder Coventry Fine Homes will construct the house, along with roughly 1,500 volunteers, in about 106 hours.

The family will return from Florida on Thursday, Aug. 6.

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