“So what’s the story?” I asked. “He was a Republican, she was a Democrat? Not so Green Acres?”

“Not exactly,” my host replied. He appeared to be uneasy about something. “There’s a story if you want to hear it,” he said, pausing. Then he pointed to the wide planked staircase. “You see the closets upstairs filled with clothes ... her clothes?”

I nodded.

“Well, those are his clothes, too,” he said. “The men's and the women's — all his. He built this incredible house, constantly renovating. Lived alone here his entire life. He was born a boy. Well, mostly a boy. Back in the '40s, the doctors did the best they knew; gave him some type of corrective surgery. But he still wasn’t more one way than the other, and in the end his folks decided to raise him as a boy.”

I was frozen by his story. “I can’t imagine the challenges, the stigma he faced,” I said. “He must have been very brave.”

“Oh, he was,” my host answered. “Stubborn, but always a gentleman. He owned a large business in town for over 30 years; very successful, employed dozens of people who respected him, even after what happened. It was the bravest thing.”

He took the buttons from my hands and looked into the drawer. “My wife and I knew him from church,” he said. “We knew him before, you see. He and I would talk sometimes, but I knew he wasn't happy. Then about 10 years ago he decided to make things right and get the change. At 60.”

“He had a sex change at 60 years old?” I asked, pricking myself on an “I LIKE IKE” button.

“Funny thing about these political pins,” he said. “For most his life he was a far-right Republican. He and I didn't agree on much. But after he had the sex change, she became a Democrat.” He laughed. “Much easier to get along with then, I’ll tell you that.”

A mansion remodeled time and again. Tens of thousands of photographs recording changing images. A lifelong Republican man reborn a Democratic woman. Was this not a more amazing find than any crazy quilt?