CityView Magazine

Gibson and Devane aren’t the types to believe in chance, just moments meant to be. He was once a confirmed bachelor, living in Fayetteville for just a short stint. She was divorced with small children and a family business to help run. And then, Trish Clayton called and said, “I know your soul mate.” Gibson shrugged it off, but one day she called, needing a casual date for an upcoming event. “I swear we fell in love that night,” Gibson says. He loved theater and so did she. He plays the grand piano; she loves music, too. And most important to this story, they both adored modern architecture. It wasn’t long before the two of them planned to join a church mission trip to Bolivia. But when they arrived at the Charlotte airport rather than flying to Bolivia, they took a plane to Cancun instead. There on the cliffs of a rainforest, they got married. Every year since, for more than a decade now, they have sent Clayton a Christmas gift. Then came the hard part. For most newlyweds, a major house renovation might strain the best of marriages. And had they known that the project would take them through two major storms, you’d have to wonder if they would have reconsidered. But they had a vision. Devane’s parents, Jim and Betty Devane, lived in one of Fayetteville’s most recognizable contemporary homes. She and Gibson both were ardent fans of such designers as Tadao Ando, Ricardo Legorreta, Luis Barragan and Frank Gehry. The house is the result of their combined influence. Zoning rules kept the renovation within the confines of the existing footprint, but that is the only thing its former owner, Fayetteville veterinarian Dr. Jack Hill, might recognize. No contractor would touch it so Gibson and Devane did the job themselves. It started with tearing down walls and ripping out floors. Then, they searched for people who knew how to pour solid concrete floors and install cement counters. Today, it would be difficult to point out even the smallest

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