Enderlines
Enderlines will be rather short this week but I hope it will carry an important message to the people of our city. Bill Hurlburt, who, along with his wife Sonja, attended our monthly Lions meeting for November. Bill was there to present the program to the members. He conducts his business through a computer in his home. He talked to some degree about this business,but spent most of his time talking about why he chose Enderlin as a place to do his work. What he said should be of great interest to all of us. The positive, enthusiastic words coming from Bill’s mouth really got our attention. It is too bad that he could not have given his message in a large hall to all of the people in town.
Bill and Sonja made a diligent search to find a place that suited their needs. Affordable housing was one of the main reasons for this search. They looked at places that included Minneapolis, Fargo, and Kindred, only to find the housing much too expensive. In Bill’s business, location is not a concern. They saw that Enderlin was a perfect fit. They moved into town a year ago and bought the home on 319 Cleveland Street. Since then they have done much to improve the house. This is only part of their stories. What Bill said, after talking about his business, is what was so important. He talked about this town of ours and how glad they were to be here. The smile on his face was proof that he meant what he said. The gist of the message concerned the fact that Enderlin had advantages that they could not find in the larger cities. Their expenses are much lower. Their taxes are low. The cost of food is lower. Bill indicated that, because of all of this, moving to Enderlin was a “no brainer”. Here they can walk to any place they want to go. This Bill compared to the larger cities where a person had to get into a car to get to most destinations because every place they needed to be was so far from their home. In Enderlin, the kids can walk to school. The family can walk to the library, to church, to Jay’s grocery store, the swimming pool or just about any place they want to be. The best part is that they can do this and feel safe.
Bill also talked about the people of Enderlin and the friendliness that has been shown to them. Part of this is because he and Sonja are people who are easy to like. The other part is that we like easily. We are just that way.
Sonja originally came from Minnesota and Bill from Pennsylvania. Their first winter here did not discourage them. The uncomfortable weather was not enough to do this. They feel it not to be a problem. Friends of the Hurlberts think they are crazy for choosing North Dakota as a place to live. Bill feels that the advantages of being here far outweigh any disadvantage for a person in his type of business. His enthusiasm was contagious. It was good to hear encouraging words such as his.
Can you imagine how many people, who are in the same type of work as Bill? How great it would be to get this message out to others. How much greater it would be if they would come and try us. I feel they would have the same experience as Bill and Sonja. Being a friendly community is the essential ingredient we need to convince people such as Bill and Sonja that living here would be a good idea. The rest will take care of itself because we will be a living billboard that will say “Welcome to Enderlin”.
It is a little late, but to Bill and Sonja -- WELCOME TO ENDERLIN!