Parents follow couple to the sun of Desert Aire
Friends and family Brad and Karen Kleinschmidt, the couple on the left, have no in-law problems. They love being around both sets of parents and encouraged them to move to Desert Aire after they did. The second couple from left is Lyle and Phyllis Kleinschmidt, and Howard and Lee Mathisen are on the right. The photo was taken at the Kleinschmidt home.
DESERT AIRE - Brad and Karen Kleinschmidt were tired of Seattle area traffic and weather when they decided to move here in 2005.
What they didn't know was that their parents were just as tired of western Washington. They, too, were thinking of the sun.
Karen was nervous when she went to tell her parents she and Brad had purchased property at Desert Aire. But the parents were happy for her and suggested they might move.
"Dad called Brad's dad and told him he should come, too," Kleinschmidt said.
That this family affair came about should not have been a surprise. Lyle Kleinschmidt and Howard Mathisen have been best friends for 60 years. They met when both had auto sales agencies.
Brad and his father have both been builders, with Brad learning from Lyle. Karen started her work career on her father's car lot, detailing autos at first and then selling them.
"It was a blast," she said. "You got to drive all these neat cars."
Karen was working with her father and Brad was working with his when they met. They married in 1986.
Karen left her father's employ to raise twin sons. When the boys started to care for themselves, Karen went to work with Brad. She did all the grunt work, hanging windows, lifting walls, working on foundations, scraping floors and much more.
"They didn't want me to use the power tools, I think because I'm a blond," she said.
Life was good. Construction gave the Kleinschmidts the income they needed to enjoy the good life.
But the Kleinschmidts most often found themselves in eastern Washington in search of that good life. Here was the sun, the boating, the hunting and fishing they craved.
At Desert Aire, the Kleinschmidts found everything they desired. And there was the ability to continue building.
Brad moved to Desert Aire in 2005 to establish a home and set up shop. Karen stayed in Snohomish while the twins finished their senior year of high school.
After the graduation of the twins in 2006, Karen and the boys moved over, and the boys went to work with their father to raise college money. Shortly thereafter both sets of grandparents moved, and, immediately, all of them noticed the eastern Washington small-town lifestyle.
"People are waving at you just because you're walking on the side of the street," Karen said.
"If our parents (age range 84-89) had stayed on the west side, none of them would be driving," she added.
The Kleinschmidts went to building upon arrival. Opportunity abounded. But after seven homes, the recession the country is suffering hit. Construction work now is limited to remodels, additions and insurance jobs.
The Kleinschmidts saw the trouble coming with time. They decided to adjust by diversifying. They bought Wind River Interiors in 2008.
Wind River Interiors slowed as construction declined. But Wind Rivers included a U.S. Cellular franchise that is holding its own. The Kleinschmidts added a cellular store in Sunnyside and will open a new one in Zillah in July.
The Kleinschmidts are depending on that business while they wait for the construction industry to revive. They are on the sunny side of the state to stay.