How a House Became a Home An Adventure in Self-Contracting

FRANK HEPPNER was born in San Francisco, and for 41 years was a Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Rhode Island. He was part of one of the teams that developed the first computer simulations of bird flocks in the mid '80s. He built his first model airplane when he was five, and his first scratch-built HO model train boxcar when he was 13. He loves trains, and has ridden over 500,000 miles by train around the world. For many years he was a volunteer pilot for the Civil Air Patrol. He has written five books and over 60 scientific articles. He first became interested in real estate and house construction when he came to Rhode Island in 1969. His first taste of self-contracting a house was in the late 70's when he co-contracted the restoration of a 175 year old estate in Wickford. He started construction of the house that is the subject of this book, Daylight in 1979. He has been active in civic affairs in Rhode Island, including the North Kingstown Conservation Commission, the South Kingstown Public Housing Authority, where he served as Chair for many years, and he was the Chair of the Friends of the Kingston Railroad Station, a volunteer group that restored the historic structure.