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 have learned about the family history, her house and the renovations to the home. What follows is the final part of the series.

Jean Stoneback has been gone two and a half years and her daughter Hope Stoneback DeIaco and her husband Ron bought the house at 588 Franklin St., Alburtis, and renovated, updated and modernized the interior of the home. Their daughter Katey and her boyfriend James Shartzer are renting the home. Their Bernese Mountain puppy Zeus, an adorable ball of fur expected to weigh 120 pounds, joins the couple in the home.

The house has been modernized and many changes have been made. The old kitchen has been demolished and will soon be turned back into a porch as it was originally when Caroline Butz, Stoneback's mother, lived there. The dining room has been transformed to the kitchen as it was when Butz lived there. The kitchen is completely new, updated with new appliances, a tile floor, new cabinets and lighting.

The dining area, right outside the kitchen is open and leads directly into the living room.

The living room is open with a fireplace and a large sectional in front of two rectangular deep silled windows allowing plenty of daylight to enter the room. The bedroom off the kitchen has been transformed to a television room.

Two bedrooms upstairs remain the same with freshly painted walls and floors. The bathroom was painted and has a new floor. The house interior is complete.

Some exterior work was completed as well; when the white fence in front of the house fell down, it had a sign on it "Aunt Lilly, Jean Stoneback Story Teller." They also found another sign saying "Robert F. Butz, Justice of the Peace." They decided to have both signs repainted and hung on the new gate in front of the house to honor the memory of Robert F. Butz.

The old front gate fell apart so they bought a new gate and Billy Feather put Stoneback's "Aunt Lilly" sign on the gate to honor her memory.

The grape vines Stoneback used to make juice and jelly with will be redone. The back porch will be rebuilt.

Katey is buying raspberry bushes like they had when they were kids and she and James made a fire pit.

The animals Stoneback left behind, including the cats, are being cared for. Faith Andrews has Stoneback's chickens.

"Jean's (Stoneback) house is the nucleus of the property and she was the nucleus of the family," DeIaco said.

Over the seven acres surrounding the back of Stoneback's house are three homes occupied by her son, Scott Stoneback, and his family; Faith Andrews, and her family and DeIaco, and her family. Their brother Brent Stoneback lives close by.

"He does not live on the seven acre lot, but we are a close-knit family and we still do mother's traditions and community work," DeIaco said.

Stoneback's children have furniture and other items from their mother's home.

"She wrote everything down in a notebook before she died naming what everyone should get so they wouldn't fight over her things," DeIaco said, half-heartedly adding stories have been handed down that the house had been a station on the Underground Railroad and there are places in the house people could have been hidden, but they have no documented proof of it as some places in Pennsylvania have.

In her will, Stoneback said to her children, "Please take care of my house it's been in my family for generations and I will be watching you."

"We feel that we fulfilled her wish and the house continues to stay in the family for a fourth generation, " DeIaco said.

Katey is the youngest DeIaco, a graduate of Temple University. She has decided to run for a seat on Alburtis Borough Council, following in her dad's footsteps. Ron DeIaco served the community for 25 years, on council for 13 years, mayor for 12 years and on Alburtis Pool Association with the help of his family, until the pool and recreation merged into one. Katey said she wants to give back to the community in which she was born and raised in the spirit of service inherited from both sides of her family.

"I'm glad my daughter is close to us. It's very satisfying and gratifying," Ron DeIaco said, adding, "She (Stoneback) truly was a great person, and not many son-in-laws say that. She was my mother longer than my own mother was."

Ron DeIaco said they continue to work on the house as it is a work in progress. "It is not finished yet."