Visitors tried to huddle in the shade of the house and garage to keep cool with the temperatures in the high 90s.
Ross does about 100 auctions a year, but he said this one was special for him because he knew Corbett.
“She was a beloved member of the community,” he said. “Her work lives on.”
After she was murdered in 2002 by Tonda Lynn Ansley of Hamilton — who was one of Corbett’s tenants and was ruled insane by the court — Corbett’s parents inherited her house.
Her mother then decided it was time to sell the house, which sold recently, said her longtime business partner Robert Sherwin of Hamilton. The next step was to auction off Corbett’s items to make room for the new owners.
Sibcy Cline Realtors, which sold the house, was unable to be reached for specifics on the sale.
People came from all over the region to the auction, including Ron Hass, who owns an antique store in Harrison and goes to about 300 auctions a year.
“We want young people to get out — recycle, redo, create,” said Hass.
Corbett bought the house on Dayton Street, which was built in the 1880s and remodeled in the 1890s, in 1977 after realizing older houses in Oxford were too expensive, Sherwin said. She had almost no money at the time and had to “cut her teeth” to renovate it, he said.
“She did an awful lot of the work,” Sherwin said. “She learned on the job.”
After that, Corbett and Sherwin developed a partnership and renovated many homes in what is now the Dayton Lane Historic District. Corbett also served as President of the Dayton Lane Historic Association and one of two representatives from Ohio to the National Trust.
Most items on the first and second floors and the basement of the house were available for auction. Tom Kornylak of Hamilton, who walked through the house with his daughter Christine, said he remembered the parties Corbett used to throw.
“She was instrumental in rehabilitating the Dayton Lane area,” he said. “It’s a very sad day.”
Sherwin lives on Dayton Street in the last home he and Corbett renovated before her death and still has photos of her in his home office.
“Some people are here just to get something she owned in a connection between a beloved figure and ownership,” he said. “It’s a reminder of a memory.”
Contact this reporter at (513) 483-5236 or beena.raghavendran@coxinc.com.
About the Author