Late man’s project finished with love, sweat, tears, pain
Martins Creek When Rodney Sellers and his wife, Patricia, stopped by an estate sale in February 2023, he had no idea it would result in a project that would cost him some blood, sweat and even a few tears.
While browsing items at the sale, he came across some lumber. It belonged to the father of Bonnie Herbough, the young lady who was selling it. She didn’t want to just sell the wood for scraps, as it was being used for a project up until the time of her father’s passing in October 2022. He wanted to make something for his wife, Patricia, which he was always doing.
Sellers purchased the lumber, which even came with the measurements and plans for the project her father started.
Sellers is a sixth-grade teacher at Martins Creek School. Toward the end of the school year, he and kids in his handyman class started cutting all of the pieces of wood following a list that had angle measurements on it. They also purchased more lumber to replace some of the existing pieces.
A couple of students, Elisha Matheson and Leo Henningfeld, continued assisting Sellers with the project when school was out, all least until Henningfeld went to France for the summer. However, Sellers and Matheson continued working on it under the pavilion at Martins Creek School.
After everything was cut, the two figured out how to put the specific pieces together. It wasn’t easy, but after some time they were able to modify it so all of the parts fit and worked together. The end result was a bench that opens into a picnic table, then folds back down into a bench.
Throughout the process Sellers kept Herbough informed of the progress on the project that they were using her dad’s lumber for. It was a work of love, time and – on one occasion – real pain. While cutting a piece of wood, Sellers cut right through the middle of his left thumb. After a trip to the hospital and numerous stitches, he was back working on the bench just three days later.
“I about cut my thumb off doing this table,” he said. “It was a pretty nasty cut.”
Sellers recalled the intense pain he felt not only during the initial injury, but also during treatment, as the numbing agent was not working.
“The pain was so bad that I just wanted to stop. I was biting down on my nephew’s wallet so hard I left teeth marks in it,” Sellers said. ”I said ‘Jesus’ three times, and on the third time the pain reduced by 75 percent, making it tolerable.”
Once the bench was finally finished, Herbough showed an interest in purchasing it from Sellers if he did not have other plans for it. Sellers let her know that he and Matheson had already discussed giving it to her.
It was even personalized by another student, Abby Farner, who used a wood-burning tool to inscribe the words, “In memory of Thomas Przonek,” on the top part of the table.
A picnic was planned in October 2023 with Sellers and his wife, the kids who worked on the project and their families, as well as Herbough and her family, each bringing a covered dish to the outdoor gathering.
“The bench was a total surprise to my mom. Earlier that morning, we had spread my dad’s ashes up at the top of Buck Bald, one of his favorite spots, and afterward I drove her to the pavilion for the barbecue,” Herbough said.
At one point during the picnic, the bench was uncovered and given to Herbough.
“No one had a dry eye. It was just a good, wholesome moment in a world of trouble and everybody hating each other,” Sellers said. “This was cool.”
He believes the project was worth the pain.
“Oh, yeah, most definitely worth it. We all learned to just do the right thing. Just being where God wants you to be,” Sellers said. “Patricia and I were where God wanted us to be getting the wood, God took it from there.” Herbough agreed.
“My mother and I were unbelievably grateful for Rodney and his students the day they gave us back the bench. I had no idea that a pile of wood in the garage would turn into something so meaningful,” she said.
“My dad was a hard-working man who loved to share his knowledge with others. He would’ve been so happy to know that the project he had started for my mom had been completed. We are forever grateful for Rodney and the students, in it filled me with joy to know that there is still good people in this world.”