ST. GEORGE — Kristy Manzanares has been gone for nearly seven years, but her memory still brings Joe Gibbons to tears. 

Manzanares was the first employee hired when Gibbons opened Carpet Plus on Sunset Boulevard and was there for some time before moving on to become a realtor. 

In 2017, Manzanares’ husband Kenneth beat Kristy Manzanares to death during an Alaskan cruise. After pleading guilty in 2020 and sentenced to 30 years, he was found dead in his prison cell a year later.

Last Thursday, the Dove Center christened Kristy Suites — a converted 19th-century home that will act as transitional housing for the victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse. 

In four months, Gibbons and a group of volunteers turned what was a deteriorating turn-of-the-20th century, two-story farmhouse into what looks like something built yesterday with fresh paint, flooring, plumbing and power with a state-of-the-art security system. 

Gibbons, who now has one of Manzanares’ daughters working for him, said they were working for the love of Manzanares, rather than for money.

“Not only was she a great employee, she became a great friend. And even after she left Carpets Plus, she always came in at least every week to 10 days. She became just like family,” Gibbons said. “And then to see what happened .”

Gibbons had trouble giving more words through tears. “Uh, this is my honor to be able to do this in memory of Kristy.”

Kristy Suites consists of eight suites which will be transitional living units for those who feel safe enough to be out of the Dove Center’s emergency shelter but still need help to get back on their feet as they begin anew. This includes not only the victims of domestic and sexual violence but in many cases their families as well.

Late last year, Susan Ertel, president of the Dove Center’s Board of Directors, told St. George News that Dove Center had run out of traditional housing space. Standing on the back porch of Kristy Suites last Thursday, Ertel said it was a kind of “Hail Mary” to make Kristy Suites happen in such a short period of time. 

“We took a leap of faith as a board and just put money down on the project” at the start of the year, Ertel said. She noted a large contribution from mortgage lenders Brandon and Becky Staples was used for a down payment. But there still weren’t funds available to convert what has become a bunch of Airbnbs in an old home built in the 1890s into functioning transitional housing.

Then came Gibbons.

“He’s like,’Well, I wanna do something.’ So he came forward and then he brought in a group of people who did the plumbing, the electrical, the sheet rock, the painting, the yard work, all in kind,” Ertel said. 

Everything inside from the paint to the flooring to the furniture to the beds came from donations. 

From the outside signage to placards inside, Manzanares’ face and story can be seen throughout the suites named after her. Her family was on hand as people toured the facility that will begin operations on June 15.   

Dove Center Board Member Kurt Ivie, also a Washington City Council member, told St. George News after the ribbon was cut that the suites named after Kristy Manzanares will be there to ensure others have a path away from the violence that ended her life. 

“This beautiful old home now will be able to be a shelter between people’s worst days and a step up for their best days in their future. So that’s what we’re after,” Ivie said. 

According to the non-profit Dove Center, which serves Washington and Kane counties, 1 in 3 women and 1in 4 men will be the victims of domestic violence.

A part of helping people rise up from the darkness of domestic violence and abuse, Dove Center Executive Director Jillian Penhale said, is building a sense of poise. It’s no accident that the housing is called “suites.”

“Our goal with Kristy Suites and with transitional housing is to make sure that we’re providing a home that creates dignity and worth for any survivor that we’re serving,” Penhale said. “We want them to feel at peace. At home.”

And Penhale adds it isn’t just a handout. 

“The survivors that come in here, they do pay an income-based rate. So as they start getting on their feet and start working, their case managers work with them on job readiness,” Penhale said. “We believe the survivor has to invest in their future as much as Dove is investing in their future because that’s what makes it really stick and that is what makes it really something that becomes the next step for them.”

Ed. Note: This story has been updated to clarify that Kenneth Manzanares died while serving time in prison. 

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