SALEM, Ohio – Mike and Renee Weikart, owners of Custom Comfort Systems, and Bryant Furnace have donated a $4,000 heating system to the Burchfield Homestead.

Their donations happened this winter after Mike Weikart learned from Robert Viencek, a Homestead Society board member, that the heating was inadequate in the historic Salem home where renowned watercolor artist Charles E. Burchfield grew up in the early 1900s.

Viencek and Weikart have been friends since Weikart graduated from Salem High School in 1989. Viencek was Weikart’s teacher for college writing, senior English and computer science.

Weikart said he has stayed in touch with Viencek because he was such a positive influence during tumultuous times in his teen years. “He was that teacher that made the true difference to me,” Weikart said.

On the winter day that Weikart called Viencek to install a part on his home’s furnace, Viencek had been at the Homestead taking down Christmas trees. That day it was nearly as cold inside the house museum at 867 E. Fourth St. as it was outside due to the Homestead’s malfunctioning 25-year-old furnace.

The situation was on Viencek’s mind as Weikart completed the repair, so he just asked. Viencek said, even with their long friendship, “it was probably very bold of me to ask for a new furnace for the Burchfield Homestead Museum. Without hesitation, he agreed.”

Viencek said he was touched by Weikart’s generosity. 

Weikart explained that Bryant Furnace provides factory-authorized dealers with one free system each year to donate to a nonprofit. So the furnace maker provided the equipment for the Homestead’s new furnace, and Weikart and his team installed it at no cost.

The Burchfield Homestead Society, a nonprofit organization, preserves the Burchfield home and educates the public about the artist’s life.

The society’s founders will be honored at the annual membership meeting at 11 a.m. April 6, at the Homestead. Bo Sullivan, an architectural historian and wallpaper expert from Oregon, will talk about the wallpapers that Burchfield designed in the 1920s for M.H. Birge and Sons in Buffalo, N.Y. The public is welcome.

The Homestead is open from 1-4 p.m. on Sundays from May through October, and by appointment. Call 330 717 0092 to schedule tours at least three days in advance. For information, go to BurchfieldHomestead.com.

Pictured at top: Mike Weikart, owner of Custom Comfort Systems, and Robert Viencek of the Burchfield Society.