Final family leaves post neighborhood

By Ms. Marie Berberea (TRADOC)August 27, 2015

Last residents
Pfc. Marcus Romo, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Air Defense Artillery, his wife, Saray, and their daughter stand in front of their Artillery Village residence at Fort Sill, Okla., during their move out Aug. 18, 2015, to a new duty assignment. The Romos were the... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

FORT SILL, Okla. Aug. 27, 2015 -- The last tenants of Artillery Village, the Romos, packed the remainder of their household items and moved out Aug. 18.

The now vacant 74 homes in Artillery Village are simply waiting for demolition. That is set to begin in fall as part of the Fort Sill community management develop plan to have an end state of 1,728 homes on post.

The Romos lived in the neighborhood three years.

Construction began on Buffalo Soldier Acres two years ago, and the Romos eventually had to drive through the new neighborhood to get to their house. They said they were not envious of the more spacious homes and did not request to move.

"We wanted to stay because this is a single house -- we don't share a wall with anyone, so we tried to stay as long as possible," said Pfc. Marcus Romo, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Air Defense Artillery.

As they head to their next duty assignment they said the location of their home on post was ideal.

"Being right next to the Three-Mile Track that's been great. We used it every day. We took the kids around it and we'd stop at the park either up there or over by the school over there," said Romo pointing to what used to be Sheridan Road Elementary.

"It's actually a pretty nice little location. You've got two parks, close to the school. We used to walk our kids to school every morning."

As Sheridan Road Elementary closed they had to take their children to Freedom Elementary for about a month at the end of last school year.

This was their first duty station in the Army and they said, "so far, so good."

Corvias slowly moved Artillery Village tenants out as they got closer to the demolition deadline for the older neighborhood. The Romos said as each house emptied they didn't mind the extra quiet that came with it.

Marcus and his wife, Saray, said for the past two to three months there were only four homes occupied on the street.

"It's been great. Our neighbor right next door just moved out last week. So it's only been about a week we've been by ourselves," said Marcus.

Artillery Village was built in the 1960s and originally housed 500 families. Some of those residents were moved out as Patriot Estates along I-44 came to fruition in 2007.

As a parting gift Corvias made a miniature replica model of the Artillery Village neighborhood for the Romo family's daughter to play with.