November 22, 2019. Madison, Mississippi. Gaither Warfield.

Gaither Warfield was a client of mine. His family had lived in Montgomery County for five generations. He is named after the Gaither of Gaithersburg and Warfield Road. He talked about his family owning all the land from their house close to River Road to the Potomac River. Members of his family owned big victorian homes in Rockville. They were demolished to make way for the ugly Rockville Mall. I was referred to him by another client to help him sell his rental properties in Montgomery County. He and his wife were in their early 80's. They told me that when they turned 80 they made the plan to make two new friends every year. After working together and enjoying the process, they declared to me that I was one of their new friends. I had tea with them every month until he died and she moved to be with their daughter. Mr. and Mrs. Warfield were an usual couple. I figured it out the moment I entered their home. The kitchen had been renovated just the year before, with skylights and lots of space. The more I knew about them the more unusual they became. Gaither graduated college, then became a Methodist Minister, gradually going up the organization and ending as the head of the Methodist Church. They kept a home on Tuckerman Lane, sometimes renting it and sometimes just taking vacations in their home. After the riots in DC, they decided to help the low income people who were burned out with the fires so they bought an apartment building on 12th St. in DC. He took no mortgage and he rented the units for low amounts. His rule was to never raise the rent while the tenant stayed and payed the rent. When the laws were passed allowing for people to buy cooperatives, he turned his rental units into co-ops, thinking that the tenants would buy their own units. Many did but when I met him he still owned 25r units that he rented out. Again, his rule was to never raise the rent while the tenant stayed in place. His sole purpose was to help poor people have good homes. By the time he was selling the co-ops, I was no longer an agent but we still stayed connected. He always came into the office to sign the papers. And we always had a chat. I always think of them fondly, especially when an old friend had died. I check myself to be sure I had made two new friends in 2019, just s I had been told to do. Mr. and Mrs. Warfield were charming energetic people and I felt fortunate to be their friend and their agent.