‘We don’t regret it one bit’

Name: Erna Vinje

Age: 53

Occupation: retired

“My husband John was born in North Dakota, and I’m Indonesian, born in Brussels, Belgium. After college, John worked and lived abroad most of his life. My dad was a diplomat with the Indonesian foreign service and, together with my family, I too lived abroad most of my life. John and I met and lived for a while in Jakarta, Indonesia, where he was in charge of the international operations of an independent U.S. petroleum company with headquarters in Houston.

“During our summer vacations to N.D., we would rent a car and drive to Houston via Tacoma where we had relatives. Spokane became our stopover break where we would find ourselves having lunch at Perkins downtown (which is no longer around).

“Having lived in Houston and several other large cities with its traffic and chaos, Spokane seemed a perfect fit – not too large and not too small. We were impressed with the city and mentally noted it as a possible future retirement place. It had everything we needed within close proximity: theatrical performances, sports events, parks, sailing and skiing, ballet studios, great medical facilities, shopping and the airport.

“John took early retirement and we made the leap to move to Spokane – that was almost 12 years ago, and we don’t regret it one bit.

“This is the longest we’ve lived in one place. We have come to know a lot of wonderful people, and we live in a great neighborhood (our back yard overlooks Drumheller Park). Spokane roads do need fixing, though.

“Two of our children are Gonzaga Prep alumnae and have since graduated from the University of Washington. Our youngest child (graduated) from St. George’s School this year, but even after we finally become empty nesters, we will definitely remain here.

“Spokane is our adopted hometown.”