Thomas Brechko and his wife, Donna, in costume when they had their home on the 2003 Old North Holiday Home Tour.

“As many of us know, working on old houses never ends (unless you have a lot of money to pay someone else to do it),” said Old North Knoxville resident and ONK board member Thomas Brechko. “It is a good thing I enjoy it.”

In addition to working on old houses, working as board member and volunteer on neighborhood events and issues can also seem like it never ends, and Thomas appears to enjoy that as well. He and his wife, Donna, have lived in the neighborhood for almost 6 years. For over five of those years, Thomas has been a board member of the ONK neighborhood association, serving as treasurer, and a member of the Executive and Home Tour Committees. 

One of the things he likes about being a board member “is keeping up on issues in the neighborhood.” While he appreciates what the neighborhood organization and volunteers do, he sometimes gets “concerned about taking on more than the few people that get involved can handle.” He would like to see more residents get involved.

Originally from Binghamton, NY, the second foggiest city in the U.S., he said one of the main reasons he moved here was because of the mountains and lakes, and if he had more time, that is where he would spend some of it. He said, he would also “take more vacations; more visits with our children, and finish working on the house – as if that will happen.” Working on an historic house, like working on an historic neighborhood, is one of those never-ending, ever-evolving commitments whose reward is often the journey itself and not the destination.

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