Jesse and Carolee Shepherd’s Journey Home

Homes hold stories the way trees hold rings, each layer cataloging seasons lived, weathered, and remembered.

Jesse and Carolee Shepherd’s charming craftsman, situated in the Sehome neighborhood, is a compendium of memories old and new. The house’s walls echo melodies, books, and laughter, and its yard teems with a vibrant array of plums, blueberries, raspberries, and culinary herbs. The property is a library of love.

For most of their lives, the couple has engaged in creative pursuits. Yet, their story took a difficult turn during their mid-70s when they returned to Washington. In 2020, their plans to buy a home were thwarted.

“We thought we had the funds,” Carolee recalls, “but then prices skyrocketed, and we were stuck.”

During the early chapter of their return to Washington, they applied to KulshanCLT and joined the waitlist. What was intended to be a short stay with friends on Camano Island stretched into four and a half years. Despite the uncertainty, their friends welcomed them, offering two bedrooms and sharing meals.

“We were separate but together,” Carolee said. “The situation was healthy and kind, though never meant to be permanent.”

“It wasn’t like living with your parents. It was just… tight,” added Jesse.

Home....Coming

Their relocation from Colorado was a homecoming, a return to their two children and three grandchildren who reside in the Puget Sound region. Jesse and Carolee also share another deep connection to Bellingham. Jesse graduated from Fairhaven College in 1995, and Carolee taught in Blaine for 11 years.

Retired from the construction trade, Jesse is also an award-winning songwriter known for his bluesy folk album titled Reality Check.

“I have walked many paths in this journey on planet Earth, and have been spinning musical tales that explore relationships, societal maladies and deeper meanings of life for over fifty years,” he said.

Song is also central to Carolee’s life. As an elementary teacher and a member of community choruses, music and textile arts have threaded throughout her life, weaving a sense of joy, beauty, and connection for the artist. Together, the couple has spent more than two decades singing, writing, dreaming, and believing in the promise of a more beautiful world to come.

While awaiting their KulshanCLT home, they were inspired to write a novel about that very subject, fleshing out what it means to be human on the path to awareness. Their novel, Beyond Amazon, is a work of science fiction chronicling the spiritual awakening of a musician who meets a stranger while walking on a beach and sets forth on an interdimensional journey through time and space.

Still, they continued to wait.

“We were really getting discouraged,” Carolee said. “And then, just when we were ready to give up, we got the call that changed everything. Without it, we would have run out of options.”

A Home with Heart

Their new house wasn’t modern or shiny. Rather, it had character. Sweet memories tucked into its corners, uneven floors full of tales, and a small room Jesse dubbed “the pod,” which is now home to his radio work.

“It’s quirky,” he said with a smile. “These old houses—people like us can breathe in them.”

Their $160,000 mortgage is supported by grants and careful planning. The affordability provided a small miracle in a world where houses nearby were listed at more than half a million dollars. But the real miracle was what the home allowed them to do again:

Settle.
Create.
Plant.
Dream.

“Where Jesse goes, everything grows,” Carolee said.

The yard, with its lush garden, opens to a view of Mount Baker. They share the quiet space with deer and wildlife who also call it home.

Rooted in Community

Now, in their own space, their rhythm has returned.

"We've been held back for the last few years," Carolee said. "Now, Jesse's planting again, and I'm making fabric art. Getting back to what we love."

“We’re grounding again,” Jesse said. “We try to bring in light and love and send it back out.”

They’re honest about where they are in life. Less stuff. A gentle path forward.

“We want to simplify now,” Carolee said.

“We’ll be here until we die,” Jesse said. “Painlessly, preferably.”

Their home, with its quirks and herbs and hopeful plum trees, is more than a house. It’s a second beginning. A place where two artists—partners who never stopped singing, even when the world grew quiet around them—can grow again.

“Kulshan saved our lives,” Carolee said.

And in this loving home beneath the watchful gaze of Mount Baker, surrounded by raspberries, song, and a sense of belonging, Jesse and Carolee are not just residing.

They are blooming.

 Watch their video here.

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