According to the Mirror, the couple met Wilson, a retired Texas Instruments manager, when Wilson started working on their new home in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Callahan offered him a ladder to help with his work, and from there, a close friendship bloomed.

“He was coming over with tools,” Sharaine said. “He’d bring screwdrivers and teach Wilson how to fix up the garage, and Wilson followed all his advice.”

Callahan made sure to bring things for their children and make them feel welcome in the neighborhood.

“He’s always coming over with little trinkets for the kids,” Sharaine added. “They play with him a lot and call him Uncle Paul. He’s got stories for days.”

Their relationship came at the perfect time for Callahan, who lost his wife six months before the Caraballos moved into the neighborhood.

 

The Caraballos and Callahan see each other daily, and Sharaine and Wilson invite Callahan to all of their family cookouts. Their holidays include Callahan, like Father’s Day, which they recently spent together. The Caraballos gifted the widower with a new outfit to celebrate the day.

“He’s like an honorary grandpa to us,” Sharaine, a case manager for domestic violence survivors, told the Mirror.

Even extended family considers Callahan part of the clan.

Sharaine added, “My husband’s father is in the Dominican Republic, so even his mom says, ‘Here comes your dad Paul!'”

Their close relationship with Callahan surprised Sharaine, who was nervous about moving to the community.

“One of my biggest fears was meeting our new neighbors,” she explained. “I was wondering who they were going to be and what they were going to be like.”

Callahan curved all of those fears.

“When Paul welcomed us into the neighborhood I knew I had made the right choice,” she said.