By Marlisa Keyes
REAL ESTATE
Just like the northern lights, a high quality of life exerts a magnetic pull, drawing former Sandpoint residents back. PHOTO BY KIRK MILLER
Drawing them home Story by Marlisa Keyes Photos by Fiona Hicks
Returnees seek quality of life for raising families
Alex Wohllaib, shown below, Danielle (LaMarche) Ettinger and Eric DeMers have more in common than graduating from Sandpoint High School (SHS). All three moved away from Bonner County after graduation, but chose to return to the community where they grew up for one reason – quality of life for themselves and the families they are raising with their spouses. Each came to their decision because of different life circumstances.
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ohllaib, 45, who graduated from SHS in 1988, began spending time on Catalina Island in 1991, earning enough money to return each winter to ski Schweitzer. By 1997 he decided to join a friend on Saipan, a U.S. territory located north of Guam. But he realized he could make more money by earning his captain’s license and returned to California. He met his wife, Lara, that fall. Wohllaib enjoyed stints driving boats for an ocean rafting company, shuttling passengers to Catalina Island, working as a deck hand, driving water taxis, working as a second captain on larger boats and on a coastal shuttle at Long Beach. He and Lara married in 1999 and settled into life in a nice Manhattan Beach neighborhood. Lara worked as a swimwear designer, and Alex worked for a boat company. They planned to send their future children to top schools in the area. They talked about moving to a small ski town – Lara grew up in Colorado – but those plans were for their retirement years. In July 2001, Lara gave birth to their first child, daughter Morgan. “It’s strange how when you have a child, you look at life differently,” Alex said. “We went from thinking we had it SANDPOINT MAGAZINE
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10/27/15 7:45 AM