PORTSMOUTH – A Good Samaritan paid Wayne Elliott, known locally as “Tepee Man,” to spend Tuesday night in a motel, while the city plans to give him an advance on the $ 550,000 she agreed to pay. pay him for his property in Banfield Road. .

On Monday, Elliott was ill and lived in his unheated home, with no hot water or a vehicle. The Portsmouth Herald provided transportation and motel accommodation for her on Monday evening.

Elliott signed a buy and sell agreement with the city on October 21 to transfer ownership of his property, but the check has still not arrived. After the Herald article on his living conditions was published on Monday, several people have come forward with offers of help.

Travis Glazier was one of them and called the motel to arrange for Elliott to stay there Tuesday night. Glazier said he met Elliott at “a local waterhole” a few months ago and “it wasn’t long before our mutual love for the Patriots created a little conversation.”

“Before long, Wayne started to open up,” Glazier said. “He had just heard that the city was going to buy his property and was there to celebrate with a few beers. He was happy, positive and had no hard feelings. He told me all about his wife, how they met, their heart and their immense love for each other until the end. Again, he was not bitter, he smiled as he spoke and said he was lucky to have lived his life. life as long as he had had it with her, that he would change it for nothing in the world.

Glazier said Elliott’s story “is one that will stay with me until the day I die.”

“I personally think he is a remarkable person and although he has been very patient and optimistic, I think he deserves more,” he said.

In addition to paying for Elliott’s motel accommodation on Tuesday nights, Glazier also put together a fundraising webpage, but it never went live because city attorney Robert Sullivan, announced a resolution. Late Tuesday afternoon, Sullivan said he would prepare legal documents to get Elliott a cash advance for the sale of his property.

Sullivan said he spoke to Elliott and informed him that he had found a way to “advance some of his funds” from the proceeds of the pending sale.

“All he has to do is come in and sign a few things,” the city attorney said.

Sullivan also indicated that the title’s work for the sale is complete, which means it should be finalized soon and Elliott will receive his check.

Elliott said after leaving the motel on Tuesday morning, he returned home and found gifts on his porch left by friends and strangers. He said there were blankets, paper items and food and he had heard from people he hadn’t heard from in years. Many, he said, told him they were glad he finally spoke about his unsanitary living conditions while he waited for a check for $ 550,000.

The “Tepee Man” said he was grateful for the hotel stay which provided him with a hot shower, breakfast and “the best mattress I have ever been on”. He described the difference between his unheated house and the motel room as “a night in hell and a night in heaven”.

“I love you,” he told the people who helped him.

Elliott is known to live in a teepee next to his house for 30 months, in honor of his late wife Ingrid Zammit. He said an attached development, approved by the city, caused flooding on his property and basement, which ruined his oven.

“It was a demoralizing thing,” he said.