Wanted: Family With Kids

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BITS AND PIECES

Protect your wrists and forearms from an angry hen's pecking beak.

In Search of a Laid-back Lifestyle

If you read the classified section of MOTHER'S April/May 1993 issue, you probably noticed an unusual request. The community of Wessington, South Dakota, was looking for a family.

Specifically, they wanted a "motivated" family seeking a "child oriented community."

What Wessington got were 40 to 50 responses. Seems many people are looking for a quick escape from hectic urban life. But Kathy and Ed Abbey of southern California were motivated enough to get there first—and they had their reasons. They were tired of fearing drive-by shootings and witnessing sidewalk drug deals; they longed for a laid-back lifestyle where their six children would be safe.

So they called the phone number listed in MOTHER, which turned out to be the local high school, and spoke with Naomi Reinhardt, a volunteer on the town development committee. She explained the town's motivation: residents were fighting to keep the local school open. To receive allocated state funds, enrollment needs to be at least 35 children. That wasn't a problem until the superintendent of the school moved away at the end of the school year, taking his children-who were students-with him.

In return for more students, Wessington could provide a friendly, safe community. Naomi spent a good deal of time on the phone with the Abbeys and then sent them a 15-minute video of their potential house and a tour of Wessington. According to the Abbeys, it was no slick film footage-just your average person's drive around town. For Ed and Kathy it was love at first sight. They paid off their bills, withdrew their retirements, packed up the car, and took off for South Dakota. When they got there, three weeks later, they found a pleasant surprise.

"When our son saw the video, he wasn't crazy about the house's green paint. He told Naomi that over the phone," says Ed. "Well, when we got to Wessington it was no longer green. A bunch of people from town had voluntarily painted it white with black shutters. They even painted the inside of the house."

The Abbeys enrolled two of their kids in the local high school, thereby preventing it from shutting down. "We're no heroes," says Ed. "These people are incredibly resourceful and weren't about to let their town die."

Their biggest challenge so far was finding work. Kathy and Ed-who were both elementary school teachers in California—could find no teaching positions to fill in Wessington. Kathy decided to try something new: she opened a cake-decorating/catering service. Ed is currently working as a sales associate at a department store. But he misses "putting a finger on a child's future" and hopes to get back to teaching.

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