G.-E. Family Overcomes Daunting Challenges and Become Habitat Homeowners

CUTLINE: (L-R): Heaven-Lee Angel and her parents, Amanda and Tammy G.-E., listen as Central Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity Chair/CEO Ann Felton Gilliland welcomes them to the Habitat family during the family’s home dedication celebration held on Jan. 10, 2025, at their new Cornerstone Creek house in Oklahoma City.

G.-E. Family Overcomes Daunting Challenges and Become Habitat Homeowners

By Kevan Goff-Parker

If there’s ever an award for overcoming enormous odds, Amanda and Tammy G.-E., married nearly 20 years, might just walk away with the trophy. Yet, the devoted couple say happier times are ahead after celebrating the new home dedication of their Central Oklahoma Habitat house on Jan. 10, 2025, at Cornerstone Creek in far northwest Oklahoma City.

The couple said they felt homeownership was far away in 2010 after they were in separate devastating vehicle-related accidents on the same day during a winter snowstorm. Amanda had hit black ice and ran into a concrete barrier. Not realizing how badly she was injured with a brain-fluid leak, the certified application counselor supervisor for Variety Care called Tammy, who was busy dropping off their daughter, Heaven-Lee Angel, and foster children at daycare.

CUTLINE: Tammy G.-E.. (right), daughter, Heaven-Lee Angel (center), and Tammy’s spouse, Amanda G.-E. (left), recently posed while fulfilling their 100 sweat-equity hours by building their own or others’ houses for Habitat’s New Home Construction program. 

When Tammy arrived on the scene, she was suddenly struck by a vehicle traveling 55 miles per hour. She was pinned between the car and Amanda’s truck before the truck pivoted and ran over Tammy’s legs. Both women were immediately rushed to O.U. Medical Center for treatment.

In her application to participate in Habitat’s New Home Construction program, Amanda stated that she “fought for her (Tammy) not to lose her legs” after the emergency medical team deemed her spouse would never walk again and needed a double-leg amputation.

“Tammy did not walk for 18 months,” Amanda stated. “Tammy is fully disabled after the car accident and I had complications after my wreck, which led to us having financial troubles.”

She stated that during their recovery her family did their best to stretch their finances, but struggled and “lost everything on top of learning how to survive once again.” The couple also stated that they struggled with unreliable landlords and seemingly endless increases in the cost of rent, as well as an uptick in neighborhood crime.

In March 2024, Tammy, now 49, was diagnosed with a slow-moving form of leukemia. She said she was surfing the internet about a month later when she discovered information about applications being accepted for homeownership at Central Oklahoma Habitat’s new affordable-housing development, Cornerstone Creek.

“I’d started chemotherapy, and I was a nervous wreck,” Tammy said. “The first night that I took it, I stayed up all night. I found out about Habitat and woke the family up and said, ‘We should do this – God’s calling that we need a forever home so that we don’t see a letter in the mail saying that rent is going up or that we’re having to move because they’re selling.’

“Getting into a place you can call home is wonderful for everyone and from day one Habitat has made this really easy for us. I really can’t put words in place as to how good the staff made us feel. They were amazing.”

Tammy said she and her family were a little nervous because they’d never helped build a house before when they began volunteering but that Habitat’s work crew was reassuring and quickly showed them what to do. The couple’s son-in-law and Amanda’s cousin also helped the family to fulfill their sweat-equity hours. Together the family say they learned about everything from framing a house to caulking to painting.

After their home dedication at Cornerstone Creek, Amanda wrote on Jan. 14, 2025, on social media about her family’s joy after buying their Habitat home for cost and without a down payment.

“Thank you, Central Oklahoma Habitat, for giving us this opportunity and blessing our beautiful family with a home,” Amanda stated. “It was amazing to see our home go from cement to the foundation to the framing, and being able to write prayers on the frame walls going up and sheetrock to moving in. It has been an amazing journey.

“We can’t wait to have family gatherings after we unpack all these boxes and get our home back together!”

COHFH Chair/CEO Ann Felton Gilliland said she’s pleased the G.-E. family is safe, secure and now owns a well-built home in Cornerstone Creek.

“We are also celebrating a new chapter for this resilient family at Cornerstone Creek,” Felton Gilliland said. “This was our 1,116^th house that Central Oklahoma Habitat has built since 1990, and we are continuing will continue to accept applications for future homeowners who qualify. Cornerstone Creek is a young and thriving community with about 35 homes already built or under construction.”

She said as Cornerstone Creek continues to grow, it will offer 450 affordable homes, three parks with walking trails and workout stations, plus a gazebo. Schoolchildren can also benefit from the excellent school district in Piedmont, Oklahoma.

Habitat’s New Home Construction program is designed to help qualified future homeowners with limited incomes buy a safe, secure, and energy-efficient new home for cost and without a down payment. Let’s see if you’re ready for homeownership at Cornerstone Creek: Take this one-minute survey to see if you qualify: www.cornerstonecreek.org/cc-one-minute-survey. For more information, call 405-232-4828 or go to www.cohfh.org.

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