The date of February 12 holds special significance for Sally Atchinson.

The community of Fountain Hills will gather Sunday, Feb. 12, to celebrate in its own way the 100th anniversary of statehood for Arizona.

Forty years ago on that exact date, Sally and her two children moved into their brand new home in Fountain Hills.

They were the first official residents to move into their own home in the unique development that at the time seemed halfway between Phoenix and Payson.

“It was a pretty thrilling moment driving in from the Beeline Highway pulling a trailer with our possessions past the saguaro forest and Fountain Lake,” she recalls.

“The area around the lake was barren at this time except for the saguaros the developer was saving.”

Their home had served as a model home for Cocopah Construction, a Scottsdale-based building and real estate firm.

The three-bedroom home is located on Calaveras Avenue, across from a site that would eventually feature the community’s first school (the now shuttered Four Peaks Elementary School).

“The town was filled with construction vehicles and, of course, the trailer park with construction staff was at the site of the present high school,” Sally adds.

“We were so excited about the area and our home.”

At the time it was just Sally and her two kids, Steve and Sheryl (Sheri), ages 14 and 10, but she married Tony Atchinson in June of 1972, “and 40 years later we are still loving Fountain Hills.”

The name Atchinson might sound familiar to many old-timers, as Tony’s brother, Glenn, was the long-time pastor of the Fountain Hills Presbyterian Church.

Sally recalls that the experience 40 years ago was both “adventurous” and not without its challenges.

“Exploring then was adventurous since the area seemed unexplored and unpopulated,” she says.

“There were ponds of water, which I assumed were made for cattle by the ranches that preceded development.

“These were overgrown with greenery, and when we approached quietly we often found some wildlife there, mostly rabbits or ducks. That spring, wildflowers were plentiful.”

The original developer, McCulloch, would send a van to Calaveras to pick up the children and take them to meet a school bus at the Beeline Highway.

They attended schools in Mesa.

While the Atchinsons live here permanently now, they have not lived in Fountain Hills continuously for the past four decades. They spent time in Michigan and ultimately retired here.

They were able to assist Glenn at the church, and many extended family members of Sally’s had relocated to the Valley as well.

“There were scattered custom homes going up around town then,” Sally recalls. “I was still working in Apache Junction at the time.

“Every area seemed piled high with lumber, pipes, whatever. There was a lot going on.”

They owned the Calaveras home until 1988 and then built a home on Stoneridge Court in northwestern Fountain Hills. In 2005, when The Village at Town Center was built downtown, they downsized to a condo and are happily a part of the Town Center.

Sadly, the young daughter who moved to mostly barren Fountain Hills in the winter of 1972 passed away in July 2011 from leukemia.

Sally’s son, Steve, still lives on the eastern edge of Arizona.

“This is a beautiful and unique community,” Sally adds. “Fountain Hills residents are involved in hundreds of projects, clubs, charities and social groups.

“No one needs to be lonely or bored in this special place, our town.

“I’m proud of Fountain Hills and thrilled to call it my hometown.”

Sally will be at the L. Alan Cruikshank River of Time Museum Sunday afternoon to meet residents, answer questions and show off some old copies of The Times that she still possesses (see separate story in the printed edition).