In the most generous stretch of imagination, it represented a daunting undertaking. But as Politte took the scenic drive to the clubhouse, walked out on the expansive deck to the enchanting view, it represented something entirely different — a dream come true.
“It just felt like I was home,” she said. “Something very, very familiar just all of a sudden took over. I just knew this place was really something special. I told them right then, ‘No, you can’t sell this place.’”
SERVING THOSE WHO SERVE OTHERS
For more than 30 years, Politte built a successful business as a hair and makeup specialist. She worked on movie and television sets, commercial shoots, political campaigns. She worked with Leonardo DiCaprio, Blake Shelton and politicians like a young Illinois senator named Barack Obama. Her last client was Donald Trump. She knows a lot about business. She knows little about operating a golf club and banquet center.
At the same time, her son never completely left Iraq. He brought it home. Zachary is 32 now. His lungs are diminished from inhaling helicopter exhaust. He has hearing loss, brain trauma and early signs of Parkinson’s from those many harrowing assignments and hard landings.
Like so many veterans, he deals with the demons his experience planted, the sight of unspeakable things, the words of dying young men. But duty and honor have been a way of life in the family. Andrea Politte’s father, Donald Green, worked on B-52 bombers during the 1950s. Her sister, Gabriel Crocker, worked on guided missiles and also is a disabled veteran.