Terry was a nursing home activity director approaching retirement and Jack owned his own business repairing trucks and heavy equipment. New England, and particularly Massachusetts, had been their home for years and ice hockey was their passion. Jack is an official and member of the Board of Directors with the USA Hockey League and hosts a summer hockey camp in Minnesota every year. (For those readers who have not experienced New England, hockey is “the” sport and most communities have their own town teams for “hockey junkies” to continue playing after high school graduation. Neighboring community rivalries are enormous.) Now, back to the story. As have many visitors, Jack and Terry fell in love with Mesilla and were charmed by the fact they could live in a community with an old southwest feel and walk to dining, theater and shops. They bought an older New Mexico ranch style home a few blocks off the plaza and used it as a rental property until their planned time to retire.

Back in Massachusetts, Terry and Jack started drawing plans and doing research for the remodel of their Mesilla home. They knew the size they would need for themselves and space for family and friends to visit. Homes in Mesilla near the plaza typically consume all or the most of the lot with limited lot lines. The McCatherins knew they would have to work within the footprint of the existing house and wanted to transform the new structure to a pueblo style to fit in with the surrounding historic homes. Jack and Terry were thorough in their planning and explored building methods that fit the area. They looked at traditional adobe, insulated concrete form and rammed earth. They ultimately settled on insulated concrete form (ICF) to take advantage of its energy savings and fire rating,

In December of 2005 they contacted Kevin and Connie McGinley, of McGinley Construction who came highly recommended. Kevin investigated the house and found it had been last rebuilt in the late 1960’s, replacing an old adobe.

Kevin inspected the existing home and determined that it was constructed of solid fired adobe masonry bricks. After looking at the infrastructure and matching what would work with the McCatherin’s plan and objectives, it was determined that the best way to approach the remodel was to save the existing masonry exterior walls, applying foam insulation to the outside surface. All other exterior walls would be replaced with the ICF walls, which would also be used for the exteriors of the room additions. The remainder of the house would be taken down to the ground, removing the wooden sub-floor and old frame interior walls. This may seem a little radical, but it is a wise way to upgrade plumbing, electrical (smart wiring) and heating and cooling systems plus achieve the energy efficiency provided by the insulated concrete form walls.

McGinley developed a pueblo style plan to adhere to Mesilla’s historic design standards. Demolition and construction started in May of 2006. Kevin and Connie sent Terry and Jack weekly email in-progress reports and photos. Once a new concrete slab was poured and the new insulated concrete form walls were placed into position, braced and filled with concrete, the attention turned to a new roof, which included insulated ducting in the roof framing system. The old evaporative cooler was replaced by two high efficiency split heating and cooling units to provide two energy zones and energy efficiency. Clad wood windows were installed and the interior framing was next. With Kevin and Connie’s help, Terry and Jack’s plan started took shape. The master suite was at one end, then a crafts room for Terry, kitchen, open living and family room, an office for Jack and new guest bedrooms and bath at the other end. Tile squares were chosen for the floors in the living/family area and laminated wood floors in the bedrooms. This type of flooring is a maintenance free departure from carpet, which is typically the wall to wall standard back east. The kitchen received all new cabinetry, counter tops and appliances, and the layout is perfect for casual cooking. The new master bath has a new walk-in tiled snail shower, Jacuzzi tub, and tile counter tops. A new on-demand water heater was included to support the bathroom, kitchen and laundry.

Kevin purchased a new Bosc fireplace inset and built an adobe style frame around it. Terry decorated around the fireplace and niches using traditional southwest Indian pottery designs. The front porch is pueblo style, with vigas, latillas and a tin roof, and fronts the majority of the home's street side.

Now the McCatherins are residents of Mesilla. Jack is still deep into hockey and works full time for the State of New Mexico, and Terry is a regular Mesilla Plaza artisan during Mercado days. They love their house and they love the community.