The small, slate-colored house that will protect and comfort Sheretta Elam will also be a constant reminder of a young woman she never met.

Volunteers working with Richmond Metropolitan Habitat for Humanity converged in South Richmond yesterday on a corner lot that will become 4320 Marybrooks Court.

The single-story, two-bedroom house is expected to be ready for Elam and her 16-year-old daughter, Sheniesha, in eight to 10 weeks.

It's the first of 17 homes to be built off Angus Road in the first subdivision developed in the city by Richmond Habitat, a nonprofit homebuilder and developer established in 1986.

In yesterday's cold and sometimes spitting rain, workers raised the exterior rear and side walls and anchored them with nails -- a few slightly crooked.

But before the front wall came up, everyone stopped to watch 20-year-old Emily Brooks carefully guide a power saw to create an opening for the front door.

Mary Elizabeth Brooks would have been pleased to see her little sister working.

"She always tried to get me to go," Emily Brooks said, referring to Habitat construction sites. "This is my first house."

Mary Elizabeth Brooks died of leukemia in September 2006, five months after she was diagnosed. She was 24, a graduate of Henrico County's Mills Godwin High School and Virginia Commonwealth University, and a first-year kindergarten teacher at Lakeside Elementary School in Henrico.

She also had been a youth leader at Trinity United Methodist Church in western Henrico and a regular volunteer with Habitat.

The night before she died, family members told her they would build someone a house for her. "She was thrilled," said Herb Brooks, Mary Elizabeth's father.

In less than six months, $60,500 was raised for the house off Angus Road and for Habitat for Humanity International, said Forrest White, director of youth ministries at Trinity United Methodist.

"It was just something we really stressed, the importance of serving and getting things done," he said.

In the new subdivision, Mary Elizabeth Brooks will be present in the names of its two streets -- Marybrooks Lane and Marybrooks Court.

"Instead of just one house, the whole community will have an Earth angel in Mary Elizabeth Brooks," said Leisha G. LaRiviere, executive director of Richmond Habitat.

Elam, who lives in a town house in eastern Henrico and works as a pharmacy technician, said she's thrilled to finally have a home of her own. She said it's also special knowing the house was built in memory of a young woman who touched so many.

Elam recently met members of the Brooks family when volunteers gathered at Trinity United Methodist to assemble the walls for her home.

"I said, 'My walls are being built on holy ground, so that's a blessing,'" she said.

Well-hammered nails drew cheers and laughs at yesterday's work site, but the camaraderie and sense of purpose were tinged with sorrow.

"I was sad last night because it hit me she's gone," Emily Brooks said of her sister, "but I got happy, because we're doing something wonderful for somebody."
Contact Will Jones at (804) 649-6911 or wjones@timesdispatch.com.