William “Buddy” Heiskell has lived most of his life in South Boston, so when the opportunity arose to live at South Boston NDC’s Patriot Homes, he was thrilled.

After retirement and before getting his spot at Patriot Homes, Buddy moved a lot before staying  with his daughter in Quincy. “I wanted to be back in Boston but I couldn’t afford it,” he said. His daughter told him about Patriot Homes and he applied but was on the waitlist for several years. 

He finally got a studio one and a half years ago.

“I’m happy to be here,” said the Vietnam veteran (Navy). “It’s a secure building; I like the people. I get along with my neighbors. I feel very secure here.

“And I love the management. They are good to us. They’re good people.” 

Buddy knows the importance of affordable housing, noting he’d be financially broke if he had to pay market-rate rents.  

Buddy, 68, served from 1972-74 on a carrier. While other parts of the country didn’t treat Vietnam veterans very well, South Boston “was very welcoming,” he said. “They’ve always been that way.”

Growing up in City Point, Buddy loves South Boston. After the service, he worked at the Fish Pier, then a meat packing company, and finally spent 26 years working for the government as a seafood inspector before retiring.

Buddy, who plays piano and guitar, is an amazing painter of country scenes and landscapes but his apartment is pretty small and many of his art supplies are in bins. 

The last time he painted was probably right before he got his spot at Patriot Homes, he said, but he’d like to get back into it. Any painting he has started in the past was claimed by friends and family before he even finished it, so he doesn’t have his own art hanging in his apartment. 

Hopefully that will change when he starts painting again!