Judith Umlas is a native of New York who fell in love with the town of Jim Thorpe because of a trip that connected her with her French mother, Claudia.

She and her husband, Bob, were visiting the area when her son was in a paintball tournament at Skirmish and they decided to take a drive.

It had been shortly after Claudia had passed away and Judith was mourning her death.

As they drove through the picturesque town, Umlas noticed a sign and told her husband to stop the car.

On the sign of the Jim Thorpe Opera House was an upcoming show for an Elvis Presley tribute.

“I almost fell over,” she said.

Claudia had been a big Elvis fan her whole life and was the president of the French Elvis fan club until she passed.

Umlas got out of the vehicle and went up to the box office.

“I told the person I had to speak to Elvis,” she said. He told her to come back the next day.

The following day, Judith and Bob went back to the opera house and were able to go in to speak with the performer during his rehearsal.

“He was setting up and I started waving my hands,” she said.

The two spoke and Umlas made a special request to dedicate a song to her.

“He chose ‘The Wonder of You,’?” she said. “It was so beautiful. He said it was to honor Claudia, president of the Elvis Fan Club in Lyon, France, French mother of someone who lives here. We are honoring her with this song. It was amazing.

“It was such a special moment and I got to celebrate her and thank her for everything she gave me.”

It was then that the Umlas fell in love with Jim Thorpe.

The couple returned on another trip to Skirmish and asked a local on a whim if there were any houses for sale.

They weren’t looking to actually buy, but someone told them to look at the purple house.

“I thought ‘the purple house?’ Why?” she said.

The couple went up Broadway, found the house and fell in love with its charm.

“It was fate with the house,” she said. “We fell in love with it. The rest is history.”