Over the last half dozen years, Mike Foreman has spent time, on and off, in the Ankneys’ historic Haskins
Road home, remodeling bathrooms and the kitchen.
Little did he know that he’d spend this entire winter working in the home.
Foreman was first on the list of calls after a car went airborne the night of Jan. 15, striking Mark and
Pat Ankney’s home.
"She called me in the morning and she told me a car was in her porch," Foreman said.
The porch – one the Ankneys’ favorite features in their home – was the focal point of the damage and the
recovery, he said.
"The front porch really saved it (the home) and took a big beating. It was damaged. I didn’t see any
repairs. I saw a brand new porch as soon as I walked on the job."
He had to convince the insurance company that finding new stone to replace the damaged stone was not an
option.
"With a stone that old – it’s over 100 years old – not only is it old, it’s been weathered,"
Foreman said.
Also, when stone is taken from a quarry, "that’s it, it’s unique. The original stone is very, very
unique. There’s no possible way you could match it.”
He was also concerned about Pat Ankney and how she felt about the home. He knew how much she enjoyed
sitting on the porch, and also that on her “bucket list” was extending it around the Haskins Road side
to West Wooster Street.
“So when this crash happened, I brought that up — this would be a great time to incorporate everything
you wanted,” Foreman said. “I didn’t want to change her opinion about the front porch. I wanted to give
her something that she really loved.”
Ankney, he said, picked the new stone out herself. It’s called “fondulac rustic.”
The first part of the repair job was tarping the home to keep out the weather and keep the full basement
dry. Additional tarping with heaters were needed as the masonry work started.
He said there were two rooms that weren’t touched by the car crash, plus the stairway and front door,
which was the original wood.
“There were multiple rooms touched by the crash. Some were minor, some were major.”
Foreman is finishing up the remodel, staining and waterproofing the porch — where it all started.
“What really saved that house was that porch. The lady that was driving by, 80-90 mph, she actually went
airborne and landed on the roof (of the porch). If it was a newer home, would it have (been fixable)?

“The porch stopped her pretty much.”