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thedrifter
05-14-03, 11:33 AM
Article ran : 05/13/2003
Gunny to get surprise at home
By MIKE SHERRILL
DAILY NEWS STAFF
The house belongs very much to a family, from the softball on the ground in the back yard to the photos hanging on living room walls and laying on small wooden shelves.

Like those in many Jacksonville homes, the family that lives at the corner of Shadowridge Road has a husband deployed to Iraq, interrupting daily lives and home do-it-yourself projects.

Most days Susan Elliott's life revolves around her four children, family pets and religion, but this week her home is thrown into constructive disarray by an ABC TV crew. And when her husband Rick returns from the war, many of those projects will be finished - with the progress aired on "Good Morning America."

As 4-year-old Jeremy put it around 8:45 a.m. Monday, "We're going to be on TV."

He didn't realize they were already live to morning viewers.

"I really feel in my heart that this is a blessing from the Lord," Elliott, 30, said.

The morning news program wanted to go into the home of a military family and finish home projects to surprise the husband when he returned from Camp Fox in Kuwait.

After checking with several bases, Camp Lejeune was chosen. The base worked with the show and found the Elliotts. It is the second tour of the Jacksonville area for the family. They have lived in their current house for more than a year and hope to stay.

"This place is home," she said.

On May 1, Elliott had been working in the yard, projects piling up, and she felt overwhelmed. She slipped while working on the small back yard, man-made pond. Flustered, she prayed for help, and received the call that day.

She knows Rick, 32, a gunnery sergeant with 2nd Maintenance Battalion, will be surprised because she hasn't spoke to him since he left in mid-February, two days after he planned to fix a leaking faucet.

"Rick gives so much of himself to others," Elliott said. "Now he'll be able to relax and spend time with his family."

Television magic started Sunday with a crew of about 10 camera and sound operators, producers, and the home improvement staff checking lighting and changing plans. Before 5 a.m. Monday, they started prepping for the 8:30 a.m. live shot.

"It's unbelievable to see the behind-the-scenes," Elliott said.

Ron Hazelton, "Good Morning America's" home improvement producer, pulled up in a pickup truck as Elliott waited outside with her children, Krystal, 9, Kayla, 6, Jeremy and 19-month-old Siearra. They hugged and spoke of the plans before they went inside to complete the four-minute spot.

While this first meeting was pre-fabricated spontaneity, the morning was full of genuine joy.

Elliott talked with wide eyes, a smile and animated gestures about the work of the next two days.

Workers will pull up old living room and hallway carpet and lay a hardwood floor. One stalled project, the kitchen shelves, will be painted. The kitchen counter tops and sink will be replaced, and a flood light in the kitchen will be removed. The house is also receiving a fresh paint job from Tommy Rouse of Sneads Ferry.

Hazelton said Elliott will learn the wiring herself, one of the program's goals, and the bubbly woman made the sound of something getting zapped, fluttered a bit and gestured to the ceiling like she'd be shot up there.

While Hazelton, who has worked with "Good Morning America" for eight years, uses two carpenters on projects, Elliott is getting help from three other local military wives - Heather Palacios, Kindall Smith and Donna Merriman.

"I'm not the only one who's going through this," she said. "As wives, we stick together. That was one of the goals in bringing these wives together."

The women became fast friends and joked about being comedy relief as they carried out furniture and painted the shelves. The three then rolled up Elliott in the living room rug.

For Hazelton the women proved he picked a good family.

"Personality and energy and attitude are so important to these segments," he said. "It says as much about her life and her story as anything else."

Hazelton wanted to include the other wives to provide a workshop on home projects as fewer women rely on husbands to complete them. Merriman, for instance, is excited because she and her husband want to put in their own hardwood floor when he returns.

"For me, it's always satisfying to do projects for people who need them and appreciate them," said Hazelton, who also has a syndicated program "House Calls."

"Good Morning America" will air a recap of Monday's spot today, and the finished project will air live tentatively in the 8:30 a.m. half-hour Wednesday.

Elliott is enjoying the moment and places the blessing firmly on her religion.

"I don't know why I'm more deserving than anyone else," she said.


Sempers,

Roger