Ohio family turns former church into a home

GRANGER TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Maybe it was youthful optimism that drew Kris and Marty Ryan to the dilapidated house on the eastern edge of Granger Township.

Then again, maybe it was divine guidance.

The house once had been a country church, which was probably a good thing. The Ryans would need plenty of strength from above to get through the 20 years it took them to finish its renovation.

Now the former East Granger Disciple Church is a comfortable home for the Ryans and their four children, Katie, 23, Joe, 20, Kelsie, 18, and Molly, who turns 12 next week. It's a testament to the Ryans' vision and hard work, not to mention their willingness to ignore the naysayers.

“Everybody kept saying, ‘Are you nuts?'” Kris Ryan recalled with a laugh.

The church, built in 1830 and closed in 1925, had already been converted to living quarters when the Ryans happened upon it while they were trying to find another house in the area that was for rent. But it was hardly their dream home. The place was vacant and overgrown, the first floor was closed in by an oppressively low ceiling, and the house didn't even have indoor plumbing.

One look at the old structural timbers, though, and the Ryans were hooked.

They bought the house in 1986 and spent the first year living with her mother in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, while they worked on the building, just to get it to the point where it was habitable.

The bank required a construction plan before it would approve a loan, so Marty Ryan drew one up even though he had no real construction experience.

“We basically walked around and he'd say, ‘OK, how wide do you want this hallway?'” his wife remembered.

Marty Ryan, a chemistry teacher at Cloverleaf High School, did most of the work during summer vacations. They'd save or borrow to pay for each stage as they went along, and they'd put up temporary walls to block off the unfinished areas so they didn't have to live with a constant reminder of the mess.

Except for the electricity and plumbing and the construction of a garage, the couple did all the work themselves with help from friends and family members. They ripped down old horsehair plaster. They tore off old roofing. Marty Ryan likes to remind his wife that he's touched every square inch of the place.

One of their favorite remnants from the old church is its cemetery, which lies just beyond their backyard and is now maintained by the township. Kris Ryan calls it “my tranquility center.”

“I just find so much peace walking through there,” she said. “I really feel that it watches over us.”

She feels a spiritual presence inside the house, as well. Family members have heard voices and seen apparitions, including a figure of a man that used to frighten her children but hasn't been seen since the Ryans got rid of a couple of pieces of furniture they believe his spirit may have been attached to.

Kris Ryan's experience, on the other hand, has been more positive. She's seen a figure of a girl in the house, whom she believes is one of the schoolchildren pictured in a photo of the church's front porch.

To her, the presence is comforting. She thinks that good feeling has to do with the many prayers that have been lifted in the building and the good energy that remains from its history.

“I'm sure this is one of the happiest places to be,” she said.

That joy is one of the reasons the Ryans love the house. They've been especially heartened by the people who have stopped by over the years to remark on their work, share their memories of the house and thank them for preserving it.

Kris Ryan isn't sure she would do it again, but she doesn't regret the decision.

“I feel very proud,” she said. “You know what? I really feel this is my home.”