Category: Success

The reasons people have come to Castle Country and continue to stay in the area vary a great deal. For some who have migrated to the area there were job opportunities that brought them. For others it was family, or the allure of a more quiet setting than what city life offers.

Jeff Hoele came to Carbon County a decade ago after having run and sold a successful construction business in the state of Washington.

“I was looking for a place to ride out the recession and I thought that rural Utah would be a great place to do that,” he says. “I had driven through Castle Country a few times because of volunteer work I was doing in New Orleans and it looked like a great place to move. It had low impact living, the cost of living was lower, people were friendly and we just fell in love with it.”

He said after having lived in larger cities and having also traveled the world Castle Country just seemed like a natural spot to settle down. He said there are a lot of advantages to the area.

“First is the clean air,” he stated. “And there is literally no traffic. My drive in Washington from work to most anywhere I was going to go was from 10 minutes to 45 minutes. And when I got into the Seattle area there was a lot of gridlock. If I missed an exit, I would lose 45 minutes to get back to where I was going. I was very stressed out due to the traffic and the congestion. It just wasn’t worth it.”

He said returning to the life he has now is much like how it was when he was a kid again.

“This place reminds me of what it was like in Olympia 45 years ago,” he explained. “When I was a kid we worked hard on the farm and there were only three traffic lights. Now the area has over 300,000 people. What used to be a few minutes drive from the airport to visit my brother takes an hour and a half.”

The weather also is a factor in him staying in Castle Country after moving from a place so many people in the country aspire to live.

“I also don’t miss the rain,” he said. “I love the dry weather. I didn’t know you could make a living without wearing rain gear. My favorite thing here is the blue skies. Absolutely the blue skies.”

His final comment.

“I should have moved out here 30 years ago,” he concluded.

As they say in the Castle Country area, “Many come for a year, but stay for a lifetime.”

The reasons people have come to Castle Country and continue to stay in the area vary a great deal. For some who have stayed there were job opportunities that brought them. For others it was family, or the allure of a more quiet setting than what city life offers.

Susan Jackson grew up in California and worked in Washington D.C. before she moved to Castle Country due to a transfer by her employer the U.S. Forest Service 25 years ago. She was assigned to work with the Manti-La Sal National Forest which is in the western part of Castle Country.

“My intention was to only stay for only two years and then move to a more desirable place,” she states. “We really considered moving away, but by that time we realized what a nice place this is to live. There are many nice people here.”

When asked what she likes best about the area she said that “There is reasonable living here. We can afford to live in this area very easily and have a nice place to reside in.”

She also said that another favorite thing of hers in living in Castle Country is that there are four seasons and yet “the weather is generally very nice” with lots of sunshine and beautiful days no matter what the time of year.

Another of her favorite things is that despite the fact the area has a four year university, it is not overly large and because of that it is not only easy to get to know people, but that do you know a lot of them when you go places within Castle Country.

“It’s nice knowing people rather than being one out of 10,000 people that no one knows,” she says. “People are friendly and laid back. They are not all cut out of the same cookie cutter mold as they are in some places.”

While residing in a rural area in some places in the west would mean traveling a long way to a big city, that is not true of Castle Country.

“If you want to go to the city you can go over the hill (about 60 miles),” she said. “And if you want to live in a rural Utah this is a unique place. It is different from the rest of these kinds of areas. There is lots of diversity here in terms of people, race and religion.”

As they say in the Castle Country area, “Many come for a year, but stay for a lifetime.”

Kelly Wilkinson is a graphic designer and came here 21 years ago because the man she wanted to marry lived here. She comes from the San Francisco Bay area and still loves the city. But she has found a life in Castle Country that she couldn’t have imagined.

She says there is so much to like.

“I like the fact there is relatively low crime in the area,” she says. “It also has pretty good weather because love having all four seasons.”

She has raised a daughter here and says that it is a “good place to raise kids.”

Her future, as with any ones is depends on a lot of things, but she says she plans on staying in Castle Country for good if she can.

It was not a place she ever thought of living before she came for marriage, but now having been here she sees the place as a great area to reside.

As they say in the Castle Country area, “Many come for a day, but stay for a lifetime.”

The reasons people have come to Castle Country and continue to stay in the area vary a great deal. For some who have stayed there were job opportunities that brought them. For others it was family, or the allure of a more quiet setting than what city life offers.

Ryan Murray came to Castle Country because of his work. He had grown up in the northern part of Utah along the Wasatch Front. He had gone to school at Westminster College in Salt Lake City where he got is BA and his MBA. Soon he found himself as the Director of the of the Business Resource Center/Small Business Development Center (SBDC) for USU Tooele.

“When the position of Regional Director for the Price SBDC I jumped on the opportunity and relocated to Price in January of 2014,” he says.

He had checked out the area and his reasons for coming to Castle Country wasn’t only about work.

‘We came to Castle Country for two reasons,” he states. “First, there was the job opportunity that helped further my career. Second, we were looking for a better quality of life. I had several opportunities for higher paying positions along the Wasatch Front, but I was more interested in a great place to live. My family and I enjoyed our move from the beginning. It did take a little time to adjust, as it always does for a new area, but we were welcomed into the community and quickly made friends and had many opportunities to get involved.”

He said there is so much to enjoy and love about Castle Country.

“I love the sense of community here,” he explains. “I love the recreational opportunities. I love the small town feel. I love that it isn’t over crowded, polluted, and I don’t feel stuck in the rat race. I walk to work and get to be home for lunch, whereas before I had a commute of anywhere between 45 minutes to upwards of an hour and a half, depending on traffic. Our intention is to stay and raise our family here. We’ve lived in several areas in Utah and many of these areas are nationally ranked as top places to raise a family. But I can definitely say that we’ve never lived in a better area than Price. My kids play here more than they did any other place, and that to me is worth so much.”

As they say in the Castle Country area, “Many come for a day, but stay for a lifetime.”

The reasons people have come to Castle Country and continue to stay in the area vary a great deal. For some who have stayed there were job opportunities that brought them. For others it was family, or the allure of a more quiet setting than what city life offers.

Tom and Cindy Lund are people who just stopped by the area one day and fell in love.

“We just pulled off the road one day here and liked it,” says Tom. “And then we started coming back. We came down for the Helper Arts Festival and then the Helper Christmas Light Parade. As we came here we saw this little town with so much potential. We started meeting people and we just kind of clicked with them. It is just so easy to get along with people here.”

Tom was a successful businessman in Salt Lake City where he owned rental properties, an auto repair business and a thriving vehicle tire operation. When he saw the lifestyle in Castle Country he knew he had to be part of it.

So in 2015 he began by buying a building and remodeling it into a business center called the Helper Hub. Just before that he bought some property on the outskirts of the town and looked to develop that into something that area needed. Consequently just recently the construction of a new and modern RV park began there.

Originally from Minnesota, and a transplant to Salt Lake City, Tom says he is happy with his recent decision to get out of the busy Wasatch Front.

As they say in the Castle Country area, “Many come for a day, but stay for a lifetime.”

The reasons people have come to Castle Country and continue to stay in the area vary a great deal. For some who have stayed there were job opportunities that brought them. For others it was family, or the allure of a more quiet setting than what city life offers.

Jamie Fox came to Castle Country almost accidentally, and just to stay for a short time.

“I was born and raised in Illinois then I moved to Savannah, Georgia for 20 years where I worked for large insurance company,” she says. “My sister came to Georgia and then she married a man in the military who was from here. She moved here and then about nine years later she needed me to come out and help her so I showed up here to.”

She said she left everything behind, and originally Castle Country was just going to be stop on the way to Las Vegas because she had job opportunities there.

“My two favorite places are the beach and the mountains,” she said. “Where I was in Georgia I was on the beach and when I got here I was right in the middle of the mountains. I traded one for the other and I loved it.”

Besides the gain in geography she also was tired of the corporate world.

“I found a few entry-level jobs here and did that for a while and then I found a job at Castleview Hospital,” she stated.

She is now the Workpoint coordinator for the hospital, a job where the medical center works with employers on important issues and medical procedures.

She said that her oldest son came with her when she moved and he went into kidney failure. Being where she is today, the best medical treatment for that kind of thing is only two hours away instead of across the country. She said she had made the right move.

“He never would have had that level of care where we were living before,” she explained.

She concluded by saying “Being here and staying here, was one of the best moves in my life.”

As they say in the Castle Country area, “Many come for a day, but stay for a lifetime.”

The reasons people have come to Castle Country and continue to stay in the area vary a great deal. For some who have stayed there were job opportunities that brought them. For others it was family, or the allure of a more quiet setting than what city life offers.

Lenise Peterman is a transplant to Castle Country coming to the area only three years ago. She is originally from Louisiana and then later moved to Texas. She worked in many different places in litigation support. In 2004 she came to Utah, moving to the Wasatch Front.

“I stumbled upon Helper in 2011 during the Helper Arts Festival,” she says. “I came with a friend who is an artist and I immediately fell in love with the area. From that point on I started visiting regularly.”

She said she eventually put together a plan to change her life and move to Castle Country permanently.

“I love the clean air here and the historic relevance of the place,” she said. “The fact that I can walk out of my front door, get to a hiking trail and not even get in a car to do it is wonderful. It is just a beautiful area.”

She said there has been a lot of adventure since she moved to the Castle Country.

“I have met so many wonderful people,” she said. “But what has been really fun is uncovering the gems within our community. There is so much history and great stories about the area.”

Peterman says that one of the most important things to her is public service and she loves to give back to the community which she has adopted as her own. She has worked as co-director for the Helper Arts Festival and been involved in various other kinds of community boards and activities.

Due to her activism, her personal dedication and vision she was elected to the be the Mayor of Helper in 2017 and started her term at the beginning of 2018.

“This is a place where a person can make a difference,” said Peterman.

As they say in Castle Country “Many come for a day and stay for a lifetime.”

The reasons people have come to Castle Country and continue to stay in the area vary a great deal. For some who have stayed there were job opportunities that brought them. For others it was family, or the allure of a more quiet setting than what city life offers.

David Brewer is presently a detective with the Carbon County Sheriff’s Department. He moved to Castle Country when he was 15 because his family relocated in the area after having lived most of his young life in southern California. After high school he went into the Marine Corps and then afterward moved to Colorado then back to the area. Then once again he moved to the Salt Lake metropolitan area because of a business he was involved in. Finally he moved back to Castle Country and stayed.

“I can’t exactly tell you what keeps bringing me back here, but the people here are good people,” he says. “The schools are good and it is a great place to raise kids. I always said I didn’t want to bring up my kids where I grew up in California.”

As they say in the Castle Country area, “Many come for a day, but stay for a lifetime.”

He also likes the size of the towns and area.

“I think my favorite things about living here has to do with the size,” he said. “It’s small enough that you almost know everyone, but it is close enough to a larger metropolitan area that when you want that kind of thing you can go there. I’ve always liked the downtown areas in the cities here. They are friendly and older looking. The development here is more laid back.”

Being a police officer would put him in the right spot to see the more negative parts of the area, but he says that doing that job in Castle Country is really very interesting and generally satisfying.

“We don’t have a community here that is anti-cop like they do in some places,” he said. “People here are always willing to help. It is just a great place to be in law enforcement. As a detective I get to do a great variety of work because of the size of the community, whereas in a big city I would be assigned to particular divisions. It makes you well-rounded as an officer. And violent crime in the area is very unusual.”

“I just find I get along with everyone. People are very friendly,” he concluded.

The reasons people have come to Castle Country and continue to stay in the area vary a great deal. For some who have stayed there were job opportunities that brought them. For others it was family, or the allure of a more quiet setting than what city life offers.

Terry Willis grew up in Iowa, spent many years in the United States Navy, lived in northern California and then came to Utah. After some time in Provo, Utah, her husband got a job in the coal industry in eastern Utah and they moved to Castle Country.

“When we moved here we had no long terms plans to stay,” she says. “I had never thought about living in a small town community. But living here I found how easy it is to live, to make friends, to raise my children, I found such a contentment that I have no intention of ever leaving this area. And my husband and I have looked around a lot, thinking about making changes as we retired. But we have not found a better place to live.”

Willis who is now an artist and sits on the city council of the largest town in the region, Price, says that living life in Castle Country is simple and she listed the things she likes best about living there.

“One of the best this is that we all know each other,” she says. “Of course some days we are like a dysfunctional family in that we disagree on things, but in the end we work together and pull together as a community. One of the other things I like is the low traffic. When the worst part of my traffic day is having to stop to let the students cross the street by USU Eastern and then have to stop at the traffic light a half a block down the street that is a bad traffic day.”

She also listed the low cost of living and housing and the nearness to outdoor recreation of all kinds from hiking, to mountain biking to four wheeling to fishing. And even while it is rural in and in the middle of the beautiful eastern Utah desert, the proximity to big city shopping, only a hour away is a real draw.

“The people here are wonderful, friendly, hard working people,” she says. “Within a day of when we moved here 38 years ago, people were coming over to meet us, bringing food and wanting to be friends.”

For Willis, the indeterminate stay in Castle Country when she first got here, has turned into something else; a lifetime of opportunity.

As they say in the Castle Country area, “Many come for a day, but stay for a lifetime.”

The reasons people have come to Castle Country and continue to stay in the area vary a great deal. For some who have stayed there were job opportunities that brought them. For others it was family, or the allure of a more quiet setting than what city life offers.

For Richard Shaw it began with a dream to live in southeastern Utah.

“As a kid I always wanted to live in Moab,” he said recently. “When I got the chance 27 years ago to move to eastern Utah, I just figured I was closer to my goal of going to the red rock country. However once I found Castle Country, and what it had to offer, the dream of living in Moab disappeared. I had found my nirvana as far as I was concerned.”

Shaw said that what he found was a quiet community, with all the amenities he needed, but with many added bonus’. The air was clean and the traffic was low key, but most of all the people were down to earth and very friendly.

“I had lived several places in my life, including outside of the state of Utah and I had never found a community that was so accepting, so ready to welcome my family,” he says. “It was a lot like growing up in the suburban town where I spent my childhood with none of the big city hassles.”

With its outstanding recreational opportunities, a great educational system that covers everything from pre-school to a major university, a community atmosphere, and a freedom seldom found in most places people live these days, Castle Country is truly unique. In many ways it is one of a kind.

As they say in the Castle Country area, “Many come for a year, but stay for a lifetime.”