Not just a home—but a father’s heart

Chris Cooper’s boot prints pressed into the concrete porch.

At first you don’t see the boot prints gently pressed into the concrete porch in front of the 1904-era home in Port Royal, Pennsylvania. But they tell the story of a place that holds the heart of a father whose children don’t want to live anywhere else.

On March 15, 2024, Chris Cooper left on a Friday evening to go night fishing on the Juniata River with his 15-year-old son, Chase, and two friends. In a tragic boating accident, Chris lost his life saving Chase, who has autism that affects him both mentally and physically, from the water.

Chris Cooper also left behind his wife of 17 years, Lynn, and two other children, 13-year-old Lexie and 19-year-old Mason.

Lynn and Chris had bought the house in 2010 as a “forever” home to raise the kids. They knew they had a lot of work to do to make it structurally sound.

Last summer, after becoming financially stable, they were just about to take out a loan to make major structural repairs to the home. But when Chris passed away, Lynn, who works a part-time schedule to care for Chase, did not have the means to continue the plans for the home her late husband had dreamed of and drawn up.

A local nonprofit, Helping Hands of Juniata County, connected with the Cooper family, then with the Juniata/Snyder Unit of Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS). Next local and regional businesses began to donate supplies, including trusses, siding, flooring, and more.

“The longer it went, the more people got involved,” said Lynn.

MDS volunteers have been working on the house every day, and they estimate that Lynn and the children, who have been living in two travel trailers in the yard, will be able to move in by the end of summer. A local contractor is also pitching in discounted work.

Lynn described what the house means not only to her but especially to the children. “It allows us to stay here,” she said. “It’s all we have of him, and it’s the only place the kids want to call home.”

She visits the home—still a work-in-progress—almost every day. “It’s so much more open than it was,” she said, walking around the rooms in which volunteers have taken out walls, shored up new beams, and are just about to close in the roof so interior work can begin.

Faith by design

Once overwhelmed by house, Lynn now sees it as a place of hope and security.

Standing with Lynn in the home, MDS Juniata/Snyder Unit Chair Glenn Carper said, when he first saw the home, he felt overwhelmed, too—at least at first.

“I went by faith that we could find the partners and people who could help us do this,” he said, also expressing gratitude for the MDS tool trailer that’s now in use on the property.

Lynn said the work of Glenn and the volunteers has been amazing. “This will allow us to find a little peace,” she said, showing a special space by an upstairs window in which she plans to sit and read.

As she walked back downstairs and exited her home, she pointed to the boot prints in the concrete. “They pressed Chris’s boots in here, and they have followed his design every step of the way,” she explained. “This house is my children’s lifeline to their father.”