Loss of husband, pandemic devastation didn't stop Ann Felton Gilliland from homebuilding

For 30 years, Ann Felton Gilliland was the dynamo driving Central Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity, in public appeals for support and behind the scenes at work.

She grew it from a small charity with a borrowed office the size of a closet into one of Oklahoma City's top homebuilders, with its own office campus, cabinet shop and equipment yard.

She'd led Habitat into land development years before, and the nonprofit was closing in on finishing its most recent neighborhood, one propelled by the largest single donation it has ever received.

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Along the way, Habitat built its 1,000th house, an accomplishment saluted by friends, supporters and local and state dignitaries with all appropriate pomp and circumstance.

People buy Habitat houses with zero-interest home loans, but contribute "sweat equity" — working on their own house or somewhere for Habitat — for the down payment. She helped make that happen 1,000 times.

She could retire and no one would blame her. She'd done plenty.

Besides, on the heels of that last accomplishment, that 1,000th Habitat house, the coronavirus hit. Everything was harder.

Ann Felton Gilliland, still chairman and CEO of Central Oklahoma Habitat

So she and her husband, attorney Robert "Bob" Gilliland Jr., made their retirement plans: She would close out 2020 and be done with Central Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity.

But there she was the other day at that most recent Habitat neighborhood, Stephen Florentz Legacy Estates, the one bolstered by that biggest-ever donation, $2.25 million unexpectedly bequeathed by its namesake.

She, friends and supporters were there at 8105 NW 74 to dedicate another Habitat home not far from the 1,000th one, along with the homebuyer, a single mother, like many Habitat homebuyers.

It was Habitat business as usual for Ann Felton Gilliland, 78, still chairman and still CEO of the ecumenical Christian Central Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity.

"My husband died," she said, and with him their plans to retire.

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Bob Gilliland, 69, a litigation attorney with the McAfee & Taft law firm, died at home in Nichols Hills on Feb. 24, 2021. He had contracted COVID-19, but she said he had other health issues, as well. She got the virus, too, and was not expected to survive.

"My plan was I would retire and we would do some traveling." When he died, she said, it changed everything.

The Central Oklahoma Habitat Board of Directors got a second shocking letter.

"I love what I do, anyway. It's never been work to me," Felton Gilliland said. "I had actually sent the board a letter of resignation. Then I sent another one, and at the top it said, 'Change of Heart!'"

Change of heart. Change of plans. Change of everything. Now, rather than traveling the country, perhaps reflecting on 30-plus years of changing lives, she's looking forward to Habitat developing another addition.

Nonprofit Habitat for Humanity faced additional COVID pandemic obstacles

Cornerstone Creek eventually will have 450 Habitat homes on the southwest corner of NW 150 and Morgan Road. She wants to see the first phase of 45 homes complete, then maybe retire.

"I don't like to look backwards," she said.

But a look back at the past two years of the coronavirus pandemic, and building supply disruptions, and related challenges to homebuilding, shows how Habitat could be in position now to take on a new, large, long-term project.

The past two years, skyrocketing prices for lumber and other materials, broken supply chains, and tight labor hit everybody in construction. But Habitat, as a nonprofit, faced obstacles commercial builders didn't.

Habitat's labor pool dried up almost completely when businesses and other organizations stopped sending volunteers — it was something like 7,000 volunteers a year. The Department of Corrections stopped sending inmates to work.

Big donations disappeared as well.

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PPP loans helped Central Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity proceed

The federal Paycheck Protection Program helped. Habitat took two PPP loans, one for $465,800, and one for $459,600, Felton Gilliland said.

Habitat kept building houses, though somewhat fewer than before the pandemic — 35 in 2020, and 35 in 2021, down from 45-50 per year.

With no volunteers and no inmates, Habitat's construction staff did most of the work.

"We just built them ourselves, with our subs. We did a lot of infill building. We just went out and bought lots where we could in older neighborhoods, where we're just welcomed with open arms," she said.

With new neighborhoods started from scratch that's not always the case. She said sometimes neighbors "with $350,000 homes, they're not too welcoming until they get to know Habitat — then they come volunteer with us."

The Habitat ReStores stayed open, selling donated building materials and used home furnishings at 1800 N Broadway Ave. downtown and at 4900 S High Ave.

PPP "saved us, really," she said. "I'd have had to lay people off and stop building houses."

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Central Oklahoma Habitat board is happy that chairman/CEO is staying on

Central Oklahoma Habitat's directors are so glad Felton Gilliland has been at the helm through the pandemic and that she is staying, board member Kevyn Colburn said in an email. Her on-and-off retirement was rattling, she said.

"My initial reaction was shock, sadness, and then the realization set in that replacing Ann Felton wasn’t going to be possible and that things would be different going forward," wrote Colburn, vice president of leasing for Tom Morris Enterprises and its Shoppes at Northpark and Quail Plaza. "How would we even begin to find her replacement??"

Then, when the chairman and CEO decided to stay on, Colburn wrote, "We were absolutely elated and relieved. I believe with certainty that I speak for everyone on the board!! Not only is Habitat lucky to have Ann, but our city and state are as well!!! She is an amazing woman!"

'Do unto others': Habitat leader inspired by biblical admonition

What drives Felton Gilliland? She explained her philosophy of life for The Oklahoman in April 2020. It is perfect for a charity organization that lets work, more than words, demonstrate its Christian orientation.

"My life’s philosophy really relates back to the biblical principle of 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,' as is written in Luke and Matthew," she said. "Although this may seem like an antiquated idea in our current social climate, I believe it is even more relevant today.

"Following the 'Golden Rule,' in my view, encompasses more than just how we relate to individuals. It includes how we choose to support the communities in which we live. To me, though, it seems the most important thing to remember about this philosophy is that it is not a promise of reciprocity but rather a call to action."

Senior Business Writer Richard Mize has covered housing, construction, commercial real estate, and related topics for the newspaper and Oklahoman.com since 1999. Contact him at rmize@oklahoman.com.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Central Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity builds through loss, pandemic