Mortgage-free: Kenosha couple receive the gift of a lifetime at Christmas

KENOSHA, Wis. — Kenosha’s Cleveland and Gloria Pierce received a gift that keeps on giving this holiday season.

The Pierces were nominated by Kenosha Area Family & Aging Services, Inc. — through one of the non-profit’s many partnerships — for The Home Depot Foundation’s housing assistance program.

Four years ago, the couple bought their home in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. Home Depot announced last week it was covering the final 26 years of their mortgage.

“They are doing something,” Gloria Pierce said. “You know how people talk and don’t do anything. They are doing something. And I thank God for that.”

The program covered December mortgage payments for 500 veterans throughout the country.

Three of those families had their entire mortgage paid off. Cleveland and Gloria just so happened to be one of them.

The Pierce couple has been married for nearly 40 years. They both served in the Army and met at the VA Hospital in North Chicago.

Gloria was employed there. Cleveland was a patient.

“I called and she answered the phone,” Cleveland Pierce said. “And I guess I liked the sound of her voice.”

Cleveland and Gloria got married nearly 40 years and eventually relocated to Kenosha. They rented for decades before finally owning a home of their own.

Thanks to Home Depot, it’s already paid off.

“(The Home Depot Foundation) said we’re paying off your mortgage and I said ‘What?’,” Gloria Cleveland said. “It just lets you know how good God is. Because without him, I can’t foresee anything like this happening.”