Becky and Ira May’s Illinois roots run deep. In fact, the acreage that their 1,600-square-foot ranch sits on in Newton was once cropland farmed by Ira’s family, and Becky had long had her eye on the picturesque plot. “I would turkey hunt along the fencerow and dream of building a house back there. The view was fantastic,” she reflects.
Those rolling fields rich with wildlife ultimately motivated the cozy home and sprawling pond the Mays built 12 years ago. “We are pretty much in the middle of a section with no near neighbors, no traffic noise, just nature,” she explains of their idyllic homestead. “When designing our floor plan, we kept our views in mind. We wanted
