This article was originally published in The Essay Magazine in October, 2013. The magazine is unfortunately no longer in service.

As kids, brothers and sisters are always joining in on new adventures together — whether it be something as simple as setting up a lemonade stand at the end of the driveway or something as daring as taking on dragons in the backyard to defend the castle. New adventures are what we thrive on as children, and as the years pass and we begin to settle into our old age, we reminisce about the good old days and the dragons we once fought.

This is not exactly the case for Jim Cotter and Jody Moore. Rather than spending their retired years remembering the exciting adventures that have come and gone, now in their 80s this pair of siblings has just embarked on their greatest adventure yet: raising a town up from the dead.

Raised in the town of Glouster, Ohio, Jim and Jody grew up in what they described as the best of times. “Our little town was vibrant and had everything that a person could need,” said Jim. “Gee, I guess we had 16 or 18 neighborhood grocery stores, the coalmines were booming, and we just had everything we needed here: bowling allies, movie theaters, soda fountains, and all those things that you like as kids, you know?”

Due to the lack of industry in the town and the increasing number of high school and college graduates searching for jobs, it was only a matter of time before the population began to dwindle as people migrated to bigger cities to look for work. As stores began to go out of business, the rest of the town began to fall apart. In a place once bursting with life, abandoned buildings and dirty storefront windows became the norm.

After completing his freshman year at nearby Ohio University, Jim received a call from a friend asking him to come out to Dayton to help with his new, “booming” business. Jim told him, “if you can tell me where it’s at on a map, I’ll try to find it and come up and help you for a few weeks.” A few weeks turned into a few months, which quickly turned into 60 years. Jim stayed in Dayton, raised his family there, and started his own sign and advertising business. However, after the passing of his wife last year, he found himself with some time to come and visit his sister Jody, who remained in Glouster all her life and raised her family there.

During his previous visit, Jim was haunted by the harsh reality that his beloved hometown had been transformed into a ghost town, and he wouldn’t stand for it any longer. He contacted the mayor and asked him what could be done to help improve the town. He began making any small enhancements he could, first by painting old fire hydrants and then painting a clear, protective coat over the town mural to make sure it was preserved for future generations to see.

While visiting his sister this time around, Jim had some even bigger changes in mind for Glouster. After a town meeting held at the high school two months ago, where a fellow neighbor asked the question, “Can’t we do something about making our little town look nicer?”, the wheels in Jim’s mind began turning.

He then asked his sister what she would like to see happen if she had her wishes about the town. “I just wish someone would go down through town and wash all those dirty old windows in those empty buildings,” Jody told him. “And I said, okay, well why don’t you grab a squidgy and something that we can clean with and you and I will go do that,” was Jim’s reply. “And we went downtown and did it.”

From there Jim and Jody decided they would go through town and start painting some of the houses and buildings that needed perking up. “That way when people come through town, like yourself, they don’t see it as some trashy little hole in the wall,” said Jim. “They see it as a nice, suburban little town where you might want to stop, you know, do a little shopping or what have you, and spend some time.”

Their original goal was to do 12 houses, the football stadium, the parks, and to cover some of the storefronts along the main street. They have now exceeded that goal, with 24 or 25 houses painted so far, and are still going strong.

A new adventure had begun — a new dragon for them to defeat — only this time it would take more than two soldiers; it would take an army. Volunteers began flooding in from the community, neighboring towns, and across state lines that had heard about the project and wanted to contribute. Jim received phone calls from people as far as Connecticut who said they were hoping to come down and help wherever need be. “It’s been fun,” Jim said. “I don’t think anybody regrets the hours they’ve spent or the work they’ve put in.” The houses that Jim and his team have chosen to work on first are ones belonging to community members who are unable to do it themselves. Whether they are sick, have physical disabilities, or financial problems, the guidelines for the project have been that those in need would get it first. This vision of revival has spread like wildfire throughout the town. Many members of the community have jumped on board and have been seen painting their own homes and sometimes even their neighbors’ houses. “You see people who are power-washing their houses, and just all over the community it seems like there are people who are doing things and getting more pride in how things look. It’s very rewarding,” said Jody.

She is not the only one who’s noticed the rewarding effects of this project. After only a short period of time, members of the town have not only seen the changes taking place, but have also felt them. “Growing up in Glouster, it was disheartening to see the main street, where all of the businesses are supposed to be in typical towns, run-down with windows that had dust-graffiti on them,” said Megan Exline, born and raised in Glouster and now a student at Ohio University. “I think it will give our town a good morale boost, especially to the people who drive or walk through it every day.”

Jim hopes that in the future some of the younger members of the community will take on the project and keep it going. “My sister is 83 and I’m 81, so our time is limited,” he said. “But someone else will pick it up. We have a lot of good volunteers and they’re enjoying what they’re doing and as long as it remains fun, it’ll keep going.”

The external transformation that the town has undergone can be plainly seen just by driving through its streets. However, the most important transformations that the town has undergone are the ones that are not so obvious — like the sense of pride that has been instilled in the community, and the sense of gratification felt by town residents and volunteers who are working to make a difference. Throughout this experience, Jim and Jody themselves have discovered that the biggest rewards sometimes come in the smallest packages. The image that will forever stick in their minds is that of a little girl whose house they worked on. “We did their house for them — the front and the porch. We painted the porch a bright yellow, and the floor of the porch is sort of a nice blue-gray color,” explained Jim. “Then we put some shutters up on the front windows and a flowerbox down at the bottom and some phony flowers in it.”

As his throat began to tighten and his voice began to break up, he turned to his sister to help him finish the story. Through equally tear-filled eyes, Jody said, “And when the little girl got home from school she said, ‘I have the prettiest house in town.’”

Jim took off his glasses and brought one of his paint-splattered fingertips to the corner of his eye as he wiped away a few stray tears. “So that’s pretty nice,” he sighed. “That’s the thanks you get, and that’s what it’s all about.”