Widower builds birdhouses to battle depression [Video]

MADISON, Miss. (WLBT) – A widower, overcome by depression, turns his life around by embracing nature and building homes for his feathered friends.

The Madison man is now inspiring others with his work to take his mind off pain and grief.

“Getting busy on the birdhouses really saved me from all that depression,” said Roger Hiatt.

The sound of the saw in his Madison garage replaces the silence he lived in for months after his wife Sharon’s death in September.

The 78-year-old spiraled into darkness.

“I was very depressed and doing hardly anything but laying in bed,” said Hiatt. “And everybody around me was telling me I needed a hobby. I needed to do something.”

He thought of his wife’s grandson’s interest in bluebirds bought materials and tools and got to work. They had birdhouses when relocating to Madison.

“The very day we moved into this house I had both of them on a table …