Is it a coincidence?
Or is it fate?
- Jeanne Barclay Sellon, left, and Arlys Gould Ferris
Arlys Gould Ferris and Jeanne Barclay Sellon both live on the seventh floor of Freedom Plaza in Peoria, Ariz.
It’s an independent living retirement center with 344 apartments.
Both women are 82.
They were excited to meet because both had lived in Colorado Springs.
They never dreamed they had done more than just cross paths at the base of Pikes Peak during their long lives.
Turns out they had lived in the exact same house at 1611 N. Weber St. Here’s the house.
The revelation shocked the women and they began comparing memories of the place.
Jeanne Barclay Sellon said her family rented the house in 1932-33. Her parents were immigrants from Scotland and her dad worked as a coal miner.
The family moved a lot, following work in the mines. In ’32, he took a job at the Pikeview Coal Mine and rented the place on Weber. It was near the old Santa Fe Railroad tracks on the edge of the North End Neighborhood.
Jeanne was one of five children. She attended nearby Steele Elementary School. The kids played in the attic where they dressed up in old clothes they found in a trunk. She also remembers getting run over by a car in the driveway. It broke her neck but she was lucky and recovered.
- The attic of the Weber Street house is still a childrens’ playroom.
Eventually, she met and married Don Sellon, an Air Force pilot, in 1947 and she followed his career to various Air Force bases and later as a United Airlines pilot.
Arlys and her husband, Robert Gould, came to Colorado Springs in 1952 upon the advice of a doctor. Two of their children had respiratory illnesses and needed a dry climate. They bought the house on North Weber in January 1953.
They lived there until November 1956 when they moved to a house on five acres in Woodmen Valley. Over the years, Robert Gould became a builder who developed the Eastborough neighobrhood, among others, with Bob Willis, his partner is American Builders. He also was the lead partner in development of the 2,000-acre Crystal Park Christian Community above Manitou Springs.
Today, the house on North Weber is owned by Ross Gresham and Jessy Randall who are renovating the place and raising their two children there.
They have refinished the hardwood floors and restored the fireplace in the living room.
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