True Blue painters give Lisle vet's home new coat

LISLE –  A longtime local painting business recently said thank you to an area vet with a new coat of paint for his Lisle home.

True Blue Professional Painting and Decorating Inc., which was located in Downers Grove for a decade before recently relocating to Lisle, visited the home of Downers Grove Veteran of Foreign Wars Sr. Vice Commander and Vietnam veteran Tom Golden on June 4.

True Blue owner Bryan Lundeen said he met Golden, his neighbor, last year and was taken by the large American flag flying in Golden’s front yard and noticed his house was long overdue for a fresh coat of paint.

“He’s a vet who lost his wife a few years ago and needed some help,” Lundeen said. “So I just said, ‘What can I do for you, man?’”

Lundeen said his work with Aurora-based addiction nonprofit Hope For Tomorrow taught him about the significant need many in the veteran community have, including mental health issues and homelessness.

For him, the gesture of giving up a Saturday was an easy one to plan and pitch to his workers.

“’You served our country, you’re living alone, your house is in dire straights,’” Lundeen said he told Golden. “It’s just a nice neighborly thing to do.

After several months of planning and coordinating schedules, workers from True Blue began showing up outside Golden’s home in the 5500 block of Riverview Drive at 7 a.m. June 4 to pitch in.

Workers toiled as late as 7:30 p.m. that night, Golden said, with one even coming by the next day to put the finishing touches on the job. The air filled with the smells of grilled meat, provided by the homeowner to the workers as a token of his appreciation.

Though he said True Blue did an excellent job and the work was deeply appreciated, Golden added that being thanked for his service in such a public way was a strange experience for him.

“I am a Vietnam War veteran, and when we came back we were told not to wear our uniforms,” he said. “It was a whole different story back then, and to have people actually appreciate us now – it’s a strange new feeling that really only happened in the last 10 years or so. It’s still kind of a shock to get used to that.”

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For more information on True Blue Professional Painting and Decorating Inc., visit www.truebluepainters.com.

To learn more about the Veteran of Foreign Wars, go to www.vfw.org and www.vfw503.org.