Joye Cottage took its name from its first owner, Sarah Joye, and its address really is Easy Street, which seemed like a benediction when Mr. Smith and Mr. Naifeh bought the disintegrating collection of rotting plaster, timber and brick from a would-be developer for $495,000 in 1989. Mr. Smith, a soft-spoken Midwesterner, and Mr. Naifeh, the child of diplomats who grew up in the Middle East, met their first week of law school, in a coup de foudre that Mr. Naifeh still marvels over. “Greg was the first really close friend I ever had and the smartest person I ever met,” Mr. Naifeh said. PhotoWhen Mr. Owens visited Joye Cottage in 1996, he said: “One would start a sentence and the other would finish. Mr. Naifeh said that Mr. Smith’s eagerness to take on ever more elaborate projects was his way of challenging his medical diagnosis.

Source: New York Times August 17, 2016 20:03 UTC