‘It’s the saddest thing I’ve ever seen in this town’: Evicted couple finally taken to motel after five days in park

QUINCY — Marsha Fallon and Harry Sherman have a place to shower, a roof over their heads and a bed to sleep in for the first time since Friday.

“I’ve been sleeping on the ground, but it’s getting too cold for me,” Fallon said in an interview in Washington Park early Tuesday night.

The couple was evicted Friday from the Lincoln-Douglas Apartments, 101 N. Fourth. Their belongings were either piled up along the north side of the apartment building or across the street on the southwest corner of Washington Park.

Austin Young has been keeping an eye on the couple. He and Chris Taylor own 644 Maine — a boutique store at, surprise, 644 Maine. He said Fallon, 76, and Sherman, 77, had learned the Salvation Army had secured a room for them at a local motel, but they had no transportation in place.

Finally, a person with a handicapped-accessible van offered to take Fallon and Sherman to the hotel at about 10 p.m. Tuesday. However, many of their belongings were left in the park.

“I’m afraid it’s all going to disappear overnight,” Young said.

Young and Taylor were on their way Sunday to the Steampunk Festival in Hannibal when they saw Fallon, a frequent customer at their store, and her belongings scattered on the park sidewalk across the street from the apartment building. Fallon and Sherman’s apartment and belongings were infested, leading to the eviction.

He said all of the couple’s belongings stashed along the north wall of the apartment building were taken away Tuesday in a trash dumpster.

“The United Way was trying to get a truck down here so they could load it and put (the belongings) in storage, but they couldn’t meet the timetable,” Young said. “My partner and I were able to get some of what they had out here into bags, and we put them in our empty storage unit.”

Adam Yates, chief of the Quincy Police Department, said he was on site Tuesday and helped contact local service agencies. The Adams County Sheriff’s Department handles evictions.

“It’s important to remember (eviction) is a lengthy process that goes on well before the eviction ever takes place,” he said. “There are a number of notices. Generally, there’s at least 30 days before eviction for the individual being evicted to make some type of arrangements for their property and new housing, whatever it may be.

“That also allows them to reach out to social service agencies, someone who might be able to assist or maybe even put off the eviction — but if not, someone to prepare them for when they ultimately are evicted. Ultimately, there is really no role for law enforcement at that point other than the potential connection to social service agencies if that’s needed.”

Young and Taylor both spoke before the Quincy City Council at its Tuesday meeting. Young told aldermen he couldn’t get local organizations to the park to help the homeless couple until Tuesday morning because of the three-day Labor Day weekend.

“What I’ve learned in that time is how incredibly difficult it is for people who are evicted, who don’t have cell phones, who don’t have vehicles, who also have physical disabilities that keep them from moving around,” he said. “I had to go down (to the park) twice a day, if not more, to charge the gentleman’s wheelchair so that he could get it to the bathroom so he didn’t have to soil himself.”

Young told aldermen he met another person who said she would soon be evicted from the Lincoln-Douglas Apartments.

“At the time, Jenna (Hull) was there from the United Way and connected with her,” Young said. “The thing (the woman) said is, ‘I’m having trouble with paying my stuff. I’ve gotten a little bit of help, but I don’t want to end up like Marsha and Harry.”

He said he collected Fallon’s personal information, such as a birth certificate and Social Security card, from the pile of items taken away in the dumpster.

“It should have been placed in a storage unit so it wasn’t becoming a nuisance for surrounding properties,” he said. “I picked stuff up all over the park like bank statements. All of these things were just flying in the wind. These people are struggling to figure out what’s happened to them. They have no cell phones. They have no family. That’s why I’m here, to basically bring it to your attention.”

Taylor told aldermen he and Young have spoken with many people at state and local organizations about the situation.

“How are there two homeless people over the age of 65 who have been turned out into this world with the conditions and needs they have?” he said. “I just ran them dinner, and I’m going back. It’s the saddest thing I’ve ever seen in this town. … If you are doing business with a person that age, there should be some sort of responsibility to make sure that this is not how we end up.”

Taylor called what happened to Fallon and Sherman “the beginning of what is sure to come.”

“They should not be where they are, and there is nowhere still for them to go,” he said. “We’ll keep bringing them dinner until this gets changed. I don’t know that (the aldermen) are the people who can provide that solution today, but someone, somewhere, can make this happen. We’re doing more than what others have been able to accomplish.”

Fallon said she originally is from Palmyra, Mo., and had lived in the apartment complex for nearly four years. She said she once worked in the leasing business.

“I’ve been on the other end of it forever,” she said. “It’s a real education to have your life twist, and you’re on the other end of it all.”

Despite the troubles of the past five days, Fallon said people who have visited her in the park have been “fabulous.” She said she and Sherman wanted to get married, but they had bought rings and “now I can’t find them.” She said her goal is to rent a house with Sherman.