Editor's Note: The Press is running a 3-part series on former Press writer Jean Stoneback. Stoneback was a columnist with The Press for many years, writing about life on "The Patch" in Alburtis. Readers enjoyed hearing about Stoneback's family and life on the farm. In this series, we will learn about the family history, her house and the renovations to the home.

Jean Caroline Butz Stoneback, born in 1920, passed away at the age of 90 Sept. 2, 2010.

The house she lived in most of her life was vacant, for sale and in need of repairs. The last instruction in Stoneback's will was a request for her children to, "Take care of my house, it's been in my family for generations. I will be watching you."

For three generations, Stoneback's family lived at 588 Franklin St., Alburtis. Tax records show the house dating back to circa 1820.

In 1860, Thomas Iron Works owned the house and their foreman lived there. When Stella Butz bought the house and seven acres surrounding it from Thomas Iron Works, she gave it to her brother Robert F. Butz and his wife Caroline (Paiste) Butz. They settled in and raised their family.

Jean Butz (Stoneback) and her elder sister Hope were the second generation to live in the home. Jean Caroline Butz married Dalton W. R. Stoneback and they lived in Emmaus for a while but moved back into the house in Alburtis.

Jean raised her children Scott, Hope, Faith and Brent there, the third generation to call the house their home. The children grew up, married, and started their own families. The seven acres were divided up between Scott, Hope and Faith and they built their homes surrounding their mother's house, with the exception of Brent who lives "a stone's throw across the way," Hope (Stoneback) DeIaco said.

DeIaco recalled the care her mom gave to all animals, her love of gardening and the good things she made with the fresh fruits, vegetables and berries she enjoyed growing so much. She also told of the compassionate works her mom did for others, some still fresh in her memory.

Some years ago Stoneback brought a homeless woman home with her and made a room in the house for the woman to live. The woman stayed with Stoneback for the rest of her life until she died, said DeIaco.

There was another time, recalled DeIaco, Stoneback heard a family of six people were living in a chicken coop on Schlossburg Street, Alburtis and the coop burned down leaving them without shelter. Stoneback immediately went to the family, brought them to her house and made a temporary place for them in the basement. The family lived with her until she and a local pastor were able to find them a place of their own.

Through storytelling and writing, including her weekly column in The Press, "From My Kitchen Window," Stoneback portrayed herself as a caring person of action who knew and cared about many people in Alburtis other than her family and she was actually seeing life unfold from her kitchen window at the house she loved so much, and she acted on what she saw. Stoneback's passion for being with nature, even wild or domestic animals and birds prompted her to have the many pets she cared for.

She loved farming and once said she wanted to be a farmer when she was a young woman but attended college to please her mother. She loved the feel of the soil between her fingers when planting things, and loved tending to them and watching them grow and mature into crops she could harvest. She loved canning, picking berries and making jellies and jams for her family. Stoneback had a weakness for cats and it seemed any cat that showed up looking for a human they could adopt to care for them, chose Stoneback. She scolded and shamed people she saw neglecting their animals, DeIaco said.

Then there was her work in the community. DeIaco's grandmother Caroline Butz started Campfire Girls in 1927 and Stoneback continued the traditions. Now DeIaco and her daughter Katey are involved.

"I'm still doing the same hoagie run I've been doing since ninth grade," DeIaco said, smiling and shaking her head. "I can't believe it."

DeIaco does administrative work for Campfire, makes and delivers hoagies and conducts fundraisers. Katey is a Campfire leader. DeIaco has started to take her granddaughters Anabel and Everet Smith on her hoagie route. Anabel and Everet are Stoneback's great granddaughters by Justin Smith and his wife Holly DeIaco Smith.

DeIaco took her mother's last wish seriously; especially "I will be watching you."

When the house was put on the market, no one in the family came forward. The house was rundown and needed someone with the finances and tender loving care required to make it livable again. Her mom's wish and DeIaco memories of growing up in the house was always in the back of her mind. She wished no one outside of the family would buy the house.