James Colley plays with his son, Timothy, and stepson Matthew Henry, 15, in their home in Marquette. Colley and family came to Marquette from California a couple of years ago to take advantage of the free land the city gave away to get families to move into the town.

MARQUETTE ? James Colley doesn’t rave about Kansas sunsets.

He doesn’t gush about the way the community of Marquette, to which he moved a few years ago upon an offer of free land, came to his aid when his wife died unexpectedly last June.

And the California native doesn’t offer heartwarming stories about how living in a small town has made being a single parent to three teenage stepsons and an 18-month-old son easier.

It’s not that any of those things isn’t true. And it’s not that Colley is unappreciative or uncaring.

The truth is, James Colley is just trying to put one foot in front of the other.

His six-bedroom house is completed, but he hasn’t finished the interior painting job his late wife, Donna, started more than a year ago.

His windows are dirty, and he needs to pour a driveway, but at the moment he’s trying to keep his toddler from grabbing everything within his reach.

With all his extended family in California, Colley has thought about going back. The kids have asked to go back to their previous home as well.

Free land might have been enough to draw the family to Kansas, but it’s not what is keeping them here.

Rather, it’s Colley’s belief that moving forward from his wife’s death means not moving away.

Donna Colley was a fighter – keeping multiple sclerosis at bay for many years.

So when she got sick on Mother’s Day 2006, she thought she would fight it. She was quickly diagnosed with a form of brain cancer, and two weeks later she died.

In the dizzying days that followed, the town of Marquette put its arms around James Colley and his family, bringing food, sending memorials that would help pay for Donna’s cremation and offering to watch a then 4-month-old baby Timothy, or Ti-Mo as Colley calls him.

The outpouring of support surprised Colley.

“In California, your neighbor wants to rob you,” Colley said. “Here, your neighbor wants to help you. That’s a big difference.”

On the other hand, in California when you start dating someone less than a year after you lose a spouse, no one cares.

In Marquette, they do.

“There were people unhappy about that,” Colley said of his new girlfriend, who is from Lincoln. “But after a while they were more accepting.”

Donna loved Kansas, Colley said. She was the one who found the advertisement for free land, and after a family vote, spearheaded the move.

“She really wanted to spend one night in the house,” Colley recalled. “She would’ve stayed in a sleeping bag, she didn’t care. We were just waiting for the city to hook up the utilities so she could have a bathroom. Then she got sick.”

Donna never got to stay in the family’s new home, but her desire to live out the second half of her life there is one of the reasons James wants to stay. The town’s support and the fact that the family has somewhat put down roots there are also part of his reasoning.

The kids are divided on the issue.

The oldest, 19-year-old Jason Lunn, wants to stay. But Colley attributes that more to the fact that the young man found his first love in a Lindsborg girl than anything else.

Nick and Matt Henry, ages 17 and 15, respectively, want to go back to California, and Colley’s 14-year-old stepdaughter has decided to live with her father and his family, a move Colley thinks is best for everyone.

Although Nick and Matt want to leave, their well-being seems to be one of the main reasons Colley wants to stay.

Not only does he believe the teens are less likely to get into major trouble in Kansas, but he also knows he could never provide for them and Timothy in California.

“You’re not going to make it in California as a single parent unless you’re a doctor or a lawyer,” he said.