Don and Jill Colwell
I remember the very first day I left ministry and moved into the real estate office on Bankhead with my brother, Scotty. Someone had delivered this nice, big Peace Lily. It was from Jill Colwell. She was thanking me for my investment in ministry. Sitting here thinking about how much that meant to me, is literally getting me choked up. She gave me value and she noticed what I tried to do in the lives of students, like her kids. She was also incredibly sensitive to how hard it was to step away from that while also knowing that it was the right thing to do. She got together some photos and had a photo collage made of youth trips, ski trips and it is still hanging on the wall in my office today. She just blessed me.
When it came time for she and Don to sell their house, they reached out to me—they had bought the old church parsonage off of Fred Skinner. So I went over there, listed it and sold it. Then they bought another house, when Jill’s parents passed away. Finally, they called and said they wanted to move into town and Jill said, “Dwayne, this is our very last transaction. We are going to die in this house. So you probably won’t be able to make anymore money off of us.” Ha. I told her to just keep sending me people like she and Don and I’ll be alright. I love working with people like Don and Jill—the salt of the earth.
Jill even reached out to me about getting my son, Matthew, to make a video for her son, Ash, to raise awareness on Autism in the workplace. And then recently she posted a video where Austin speaks got some incredible press on WBTV and Ash was at the center of it being interviewed. To me, it is a tribute to Don and Jill and their relentless pursuit to help him, as well as others with autism, be successful in life. (To view the video click here.)
Addie, their daughter, was at church a couple weeks ago and I got to see her and their grandson, Hayes, and that was really sweet encounter!
They are just incredibly encouraging and sweet people and I just really love them and their family and I respect them.
For this reason and many more, I would like to honor Don and Jill Colwell as my Clients of the Month!