How Their First House Became This North Carolina Couple’s Forever Home

For the past four decades, Tom and Lesley Allin have lived across the country and the world, as Mr. Allin worked his way up the management chain in Europe at McDonald’s, became CEO of Jollibee Foods Corporation in Manila and then served as the chief veterans experience officer in Washington, D.C., under President Barack Obama.

But the modern house the couple just built next to a creek in Durham, N.C., is the first place they’ve moved where they know they’re going to stay.