Bob Goentzel falls in love with Alaska
Feature and picture by CATHY DAVIS
Staff writer
Bob Goentzel left for Alaska in search of a summer job in 1975. But an anticipated six-month stint turned into 28 years for Bob.
Born at the Goessel Hospital, Bob is the youngest of three sons of Ben and Lenora Goentzel of rural Tampa.
Bob attended Grand Central School and then Durham High School, where he graduated in 1968.
After graduation, he attended Tabor College for one year.
In 1969, he worked for Guerdon Industries, Inc. in Newton.
In 1971, he moved to Denver, Colo., and worked at St. Luke's Hospital as an orderly and later at Detroit Diesel as a mechanic.
In 1975, Bob decided he wanted to go to Anchorage, Alaska.
"I knew there was work up there," Bob said. "I wanted to try it out for the summer and then come back to Denver, but I stayed."
"He said he was going up there for six months, but it turned into 28 years," Bob's father, Ben Goentzel said.
Bob was in town recently visiting his parents and helping clean up some things around the farm. The trip from Anchorage to Kansas is about 3,800 miles.
Bob worked for a construction company along with his brother Charles in Anchorage. In 1997, the company was dissolved and Bob started his own construction company called Goentzel Enterprises.
He and two or three other employees construct and remodel commercial buildings. They also work at the Fort Richardson Army Base in Anchorage.
According to Ben, he and Lenora have visited their sons in Anchorage four times — three times flying and one time driving.
Bob and his wife Marilyn were married in 1981. She is a fourth grade teacher. The couple have one son, Micah, and a daughter-in-law and one grandchild. They also live in Anchorage.
Anchorage's summer temperatures are between 65 to 70 degrees.
"But those temperatures feel like 80 to 90 degrees, much like you're used to in Kansas," Bob said.
The winters in Anchorage are longer than Kansas and much colder. According to Bob, the ground is frozen around Oct. 31 until May 1, when the ground starts to thaw.
Bob's hobbies include salt water and river fishing. He loves to catch halibut and salmon, which he smokes.
He also does some moose hunting. To Bob, moose tastes a lot like beef.
As for recreation, Bob said many of the people have snow machines (which is the same as a snow mobile). Also cross-country skiing is popular.
According to Bob, of the approximate 300,000 people who live in Anchorage about 90 percent are from the military. Many of them who were stationed there like it and stayed.
Still others were transferred there by their companies.
And yet, when the economy is slow in the continental United States, there is always some work, especially in construction business, in Anchorage, Bob said.
The cost of living is substantially higher in Alaska. The average house may cost $225,000.
But Bob summed up his feelings about living there, "Alaska is a great place to live," he said.
"And there are no igloos there, like a lot of people think," he said chuckling.
