Actor Marc Blucas has previously been candid about fixing up his Pennsylvania farmhouse, which is where his mother-in-law, Dayle Haddon, died on Friday, December 27.
“You know what’s amazing, our house was built in 1711, you know, before George Washington was born,” Blucas, 52, quipped during a 2016 interview on Hallmark’s Home & Family. “It’s a way to stay creatively stimulating when I’m not filming and working.”
He added, “We wanted to be closer to family so we moved back to the East Coast to be by them. It’s the only place in the United States that has that kind of architecture with old stone barns and old stone houses.”
Blucas and his wife, Ryan Haddon, moved to Pennsylvania from California in 2012 after three years of marriage. Around that time, they also welcomed their eldest daughter together. (Ryan, 53, also shares two older children with ex-husband Christian Slater.)
In addition to renovating the property that offered all sorts of “projects for life,” Blucas and Ryan took in a number of four-legged friends.
“We have 15 chickens, two rabbits, a dog, cats — the wildlife is [off-the-charts],” the My Life With the Walter Boys star gushed at the time, one year after they welcomed their second daughter. “We’re seeing [foxes and deer] constantly. We do house all of them. In fact, my wife [and I] had to institute a new rule. … We were working on the main house and my wife comes home with chicks and so, I’m like, ‘Where we’re going to put them, honey?’”
Blucas also frequently highlights his renovation projects on social media.
“When we bought our old house, the list of things that needed to be done was staggering,” he wrote via Instagram in January 2023. “I didn’t own a tractor yet, and frankly, it wasn’t on that list. Needed that money for other things. But I remember my dad saying, ‘You can’t have a farm and not have a tractor.’ My old man has never been so right.”
Blucas added, “As my DIY projects and historic home design and restoration business have grown, I’ve upsized and added to my equipment collection. From something I didn’t think I needed, to something I truly couldn’t do without. Presently, rebuilding the stone courtyard walls around the barn.”
Dayle died at Blucas and Ryan’s residence on Friday after a suspected carbon monoxide leak. She was 76.
“New Hope Eagle Volunteer Fire Company was also on scene and detected a high level of carbon monoxide in the property,” a police report read. “Two medics were transported to Doylestown Hospital for carbon monoxide exposure and one Solebury Township Police Officer was treated at the scene. This tragedy is currently under investigation by the Solebury Township Police Department.”
Dayle is survived by Ryan — her daughter with ex-husband Glenn Souham — and her four grandchildren.
“The bright light that is Dayle has dimmed in this Earthly realm. Shining somewhere as radiantly as ever where it’s most needed, I have no doubt,” Ryan wrote via Instagram later on Friday. “She was a woman in her power, yet soft and attentive to all. Deeply creative and curious, gifted with beauty inside and out. Always kind and thoughtful.”
