AURORA – A local church decided to honor two deceased members by supporting a cause that was close to both their hearts.

Lloyd Darnall and David McCaa were members of First United Methodist Church in Brookings, and both were long-time volunteers with Brookings Area Habitat for Humanity, building many local homes for the organization.

When Habitat started working on houses 64, 65 and 66, FUMC made the decision to sponsor house 65 in memory of Darnall and McCaa, said Dan McColley, executive director of Habitat.

House 64 is in Brookings, not far from the Habitat office, and houses 65 and 66 are across from each other on Willow Street in Aurora. 

Dedication of house 65 is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the house located at 509 Willow St.

“The family and the house are blessed. We give the family some gifts from different community organizations. Basically, we come together as a Habitat family and welcome them to the fold,” McColley said.

Because the family won’t actually get the keys to the house until they close on it, Habitat has come up with a new tradition.

“We give them the key to the garage,” McColley said.

Another favorite tradition is the kids get to pick out their bedrooms, he said.

The dedication on Dec. 12 will have special meaning when it’s dedicated to Darnall and McCaa.

“Just as we did at the groundbreaking for that house, we’ll say something about Lloyd and Dave,” McColley said, adding he expects their wives, Maxine Darnall and Mary McCaa, as well as some of their kids to be present.

As an added treat, FUMC’s choir is expected to perform.

FUMC’s sponsorship is much more than symbolic.

McColley approached FUMC about undertaking a half-house sponsorship for $50,000, even though he thought that might be too much for them.

“Wade Miller, the senior pastor, was instrumental in getting the church on board,” McColley said.

Ultimately, FUMC provided $100,000 worth of funding and significant amounts of labor. Church members worked on the house, youth group members dumped rock in the holes, and the church’s missions committee coordinated the effort, he added.

“They more than doubled my expectations,” McColley said. 

“An anonymous donor provided a matching gift and there were all kinds of things that came together to make this house possible for this family. Their investment is more than just this house,” McColley said.

He added that Habitat will get back the $100,000 investment as the family pays back the mortgage, “so that’s a 20-year investment in this organization.”

McColley encourages other church and civic organizations to follow FUMC’s lead, saying it benefits the church or organization as members come together, and it benefits Habitat and the community.

“We raise needed funds to help solve the affordable housing crisis that plagues this community,” he said.

Habitat is a Christian organization, McColley stated. 

“We demonstrate the love of Christ by building houses,” he said, but it welcomes people of all faiths or no faith to share in the labor and to apply for the houses.

“We can’t even ask what their faith tradition is, and not that it would matter,” he said.

Their mission is “Habitat brings people together to build homes, community and hope,” McColley said.

Darnall and McCaa believed in the Habitat mission.

A group of men who worked with them remembered the duo and how they put forth their best.

“I know Lloyd started when Habitat started,” said Ken Ahartz.

In fact, he started before that, when he volunteered for Jimmy Carter Builds, working on one of the reservations, then helped start the Brookings Area group, said Floyd Wiesner.

As best anyone can remember, Darnall helped build 60 local houses and McCaa worked on about 40 of them.

Darnall had an edge over the other workers: he was Brookings’ city engineer for 24 years, starting in 1961 and retiring in 1985.

“Lloyd was a real perfectionist,” said Lynn Dahl. 

The men recalled Darnall working with a plumb box because a level just wasn’t accurate enough.

“If things didn’t look right, we did it over,” said Art Kranz.

“Lloyd was always the one who laid out all the interior walls in the house. That’s what he liked to do,” said Jeff Grant, adding, “And he always measured twice.”

Darnall may have retired from his job, but he never really gave up working for Habitat.

“Lloyd was also a specialist at laying that (laminate) flooring, Grant said.

“At age 90, he was down on his hands and knees laying flooring,” Dahl said.

“And could get up, too,” Wiesner added.

Darnall got up and down all day long, Grant said, adding, “I lasted about an hour and I was done.”

One of Darnall’s sons told them his father was a big advocate of exercise, even before it was popular, and the team knows it’s true.

“Even led us in some stretching exercises – he was in his 90s – to show us how to keep limber,” Dahl said.

He didn’t work much in the year leading up to his death due to shortness of breath, they remembered, but he would come out to see how things were going.

Darnall died September 10, 2016, at the age of 93.

“As the newest member of this group, I never worked with Lloyd, but I did work with Dave. He was the gentle teacher. He made learning what I was doing fun,” said Alan Cook.

McCaa had a Ph.D. in physics and worked quality control for some building materials, Wiesner said. 

“He calibrated laboratory equipment; he’d go all over the country to do that,” Grant said.

Both men served on the Habitat board and McCaa served on the building committee, Grant remembered.

McCaa is remembered for unlocking the trailer and getting out the equipment.

“I worked with Dave at the end of house 63,” Grant recalled. “We did finish trim on house 63, working together.”

That was just a few weeks before he died on March 24, 2017, at age 80. 

“Both were really dedicated,” Dahl said.

“They were great guys,” McColley said. “We miss them every single day.”

Contact Jodelle Greiner at jgreiner@brookingsregister.com.