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Page 18 Perspectives Quirky Quartzsite's Contributed by Violet Kiss Walkin' down Main Street on a warm, breezy, typical May day. What do I see in the middle of Town? The Rock House. I have always been curious about this most interesting piece of property and its current and former inhabitants. This "boulder" home was built by a husband, wife and daughter back in 1965, where it stands today. I wish I knew their names but all I could fi nd out is that the three never lived in the house and took 4 long years to build most of it. It was near comple- tion when the husband died, so the remaining family sold the nearly fi n- ished house to another couple (own- www.DesertMessenger.com ers #2). This couple fi nally completed this house in 1970. This unique Rock House was built by large boulders, not face rock. Can you possibly imagine the blood, sweat, and tears in picking out boulders, getting them here and lifting one-by-one as needed to slowly make one side of a wall? Then think of the complexity of getting one wall fi nished, building the next wall, then rooms, fi re- place, roofs, etc? Whoa. Owners #2 lived there until 1984 when long-timers Mary and Jack Bur- ris bought the Rock House and called it home for the next 20 years. Mary and Jack created a "Rock Shop" for several years entertaining townsfolk and visi- tors alike with their house along with May 16, 2012 the wonderful specimens and other rock-hounding enthusiasts' needs. Af- ter a short span, Jack decided to enter politics and sat on Quartzsite Town Council for several years. By now there was a certain Lady coming to Quartzsite for quite a while for the lone reason that she LOVED r o c k s . She vis- ited the Burris' Rock Shop at the Rock House and fell in love with it all. I was fortunate in meeting this lady, Donna. Donna tells me the rest of the story. Don- na watched this house a n d visited it often over those same 20 years. In 2005, she could not be quiet any longer, so Donna walked over and got the courage to talk to the Burris' and let them know she was seriously inter- ested in the Rock House. Mary Burris stated her coming was funny since this was the very fi rst time she and her husband were considering selling. Mary also mentioned that they had just received an offer from an- other party. Donna jumped in the negotiations, made an offer, found out the other bidder had left the country, and, she won! Nothing but nothing could have made Donna happier. Donna moved in and took an- other 2 years of contracting to get the house, inside and out, Thank you, Donna, for caring and creating a most unusual and beautiful place, The Rock House, which is now part of our tapestry known as Quartzsite. more to her lik- ing. Over the years, you have seen the fences go up, and landscaping roll- ing in. To this day, Donna has been seen fi nishing the outside landscaping herself with rocks from the Sunset Marble Mine and other personal arti- facts. You can see her fervor design- ing and planning the different areas of her front, side and back yards into her passionate ideas about rocks. Sec- tions are named as such: Hearts, Big- foot, the Sundial, etc. No matter what…and it may seem 'quirky', but, remember, the only rea- son Donna is here is for the 'rocks'.