Building dreams are cemented in Bellevue man's life in retirement

Bob Brett of Bellevue is not the retiring type. At 77 he's still hammering away at volunteer commitments that would exhaust younger men.

Since giving up a career as a commercial contractor, Brett has helped remodel Mount Calvary Christian Center and The Christian Restoration Center in Seattle. He leaves today for Tijuana, Mexico, to oversee construction of 10 houses for needy families.

This is the sixth summer he has accompanied the youth group from First Presbyterian Church of Bellevue on the annual building project, part of a ministry program operated in conjunction with the Hogar de los Niños Orphanage in Mexico.

"I was a general contractor for 40 years," he said. "When First Pres needed someone to direct the project and to teach the adults and kids how to build, I volunteered."

Compared to his professional work — which included the oceanography buildings at the University of Washington, the Pike Place Market remodel and a wing at Harborview Medical Center — the two-room, 12-by-24-feet houses over a concrete floor sound simple. Although they're wired for electricity, the homes have no plumbing.

"These houses are an upgrade compared to the houses the families have now," he said. "These 10 houses will bring the total we've built to 50."

Brett and the other 33 adult volunteers will work with 81 students from Issaquah, Lake Washington, Bellevue, Newport, Sammamish, Interlake, Bellevue Christian, Woodinville, Skyline and other high schools. During a weekend training session in May, he taught the students how to hammer nails, cut lumber and lay out the building sites. What his work crews lack in experience, they make up for in enthusiasm, Brett said.

"It is fun being with the teenagers," he said. "The good part is we all feel like we're reaching out and touching people's lives by building these houses."

Big hit: Linda Dickson hit a hole-in-one at The Golf Club at Newcastle yesterday.

Dickson, who is the interim director of the Overlake Hospital Foundation & Auxiliaries, participated in the inaugural tournament for First Tee of Greater Seattle. (First Tee, a national nonprofit organization, teaches disadvantaged youth how to play golf.)

Dickson aced the No. 2 hole on the China Creek Course at Newcastle, a distance of 128 yards.

Fellow golfers will be teasing her about the feat for months to come. She scooted after the game for an appointment in Tacoma, dodging the tradition of "she who shoots the ace" buying a round for the house.

Her 100 or so fellow women golfers claim they're still waiting at the clubhouse.

Surf's up: In Tuesday's column I mentioned a car with a silver-surfer hood ornament.

My source described it as a BMW, but the car is a 1978 turbo diesel Mercedes. And does this car have a story! It has been around the Eastside longer than lattes and laptops.

Fred Reininger of Bellevue recognized the vehicle because it belongs to his neighbors.

Originally it was owned by Walter and Carol Krengel of Medina. (He was the Seattle Seahawks' first orthopedic doctor.)

They passed the car to their daughter, Kathryn Habenicht of Bellevue.

Habenicht drove it for several years, then passed it on to her son, Blair. At the time he was a student at Bellevue High School, and that's when the traditional Mercedes hood ornament was swiped.

Blair Habenicht installed the silver surfer, balanced on a surfboard with a wave curling over his head. The surfer came off a trophy Blair won when he was 8 or 9 during a surfing contest at Point Grenville on the Olympic Peninsula. (The Reiningers and the Habenichts learned to surf together in the early 1990s.)

If the Habenicht name sounds familiar, you probably follow skiing.

As a 16-year-old, Blair was ranked seventh in the world in downhill ski racing. He has since switched to snowboarding and this fall will be a junior at Western Washington University. He snowboards, skateboards and surfs.

Although Blair goes to Bellingham during the school year, the Mercedes stays close to home. It can frequently be seen — along with the surfer hood ornament — in the Tully's Coffee parking lot on Main Street.

That's because the current driver, Hailey Habenicht, who will be a senior at Bellevue High in September, works at Tully's.

Sherry Grindeland: 206-515-5633 or sgrindeland@seattletimes.com