There I was one day about 25 years ago, admiring the 8-foot sheets of drywall I had so masterfully nailed to the wall in what would soon be someone’s house.

Actually, that was pretty easy. But being a Habitat for Humanity construction volunteer means you can take pride in completing a task — no matter how ordinary — while being prepared to be brought down to earth by the next challenge.

On that day, my mentor — Virgil Welch, a Bonita High industrial arts teacher and our construction foreman at rehabilitating a multihome project in Chino — had me spread drywall mud in the joints between the sheets, leaving it so smooth that the seams were hidden.

“Try it. It’s not hard,” said Virgil (nobody called him Mr. Welch).

I spent the next 20 minutes proving him wrong. I managed to slop drywall m

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