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Bob Stuart

By storyhook

“Let me get you that book. It has a whole bunch of stuff about 1923 in it,’’ he says as he shuffles around his cozy east-Lincoln home.

Bob Stuart is looking for a book about the year he was born.

Beginning life in a small apartment above the College View Post Office, Bob was the only child of a flight instructor father and a school teacher mother.

In his 93 years of life, Bob studied architecture, helped run a family auto dealership, served in the Navy, got married, had two children, moved to California, sold real estate and retired back to Nebraska.

Throughout all of that, there has been one constant. Airplanes.

You might say that Bob’s interest in planes is genetic and began with his father.

“I remember my dad and some of his friends bought a real airplane kit and built it in our basement,” Bob said.

He smiles as he tells the story of his father’s first bi-plane.

“One day my Dad asked me if I wanted to go up with him. I was only six years old and a little hesitant,’’ he said.

But it only took a few moments of sitting in the cockpit for the curious six-year-old boy to agree to go.

Bob and his father flew all over Lincoln that day: up 48th, down O street and back up 13th street. But the highlight of the trip was circling the still-under-construction capitol building a few times before heading back to the airport.

Bob was hooked.

He soon became known as the “airport pest” and took every opportunity to hang around his Dad, airports and airplanes. “You couldn’t keep me out of a plane,” he said.

Bob’s dad went on to flight school, became a pilot, mechanic and flight instructor. Then in the middle of it all, started a Chevrolet auto dealership and mechanics garage. The dealership quickly became a family business when Bob’s mother left her teaching career and joined her husband to be the bookkeeper.

Bob helped out too, as much as he could while attending Lincoln High School. It was during that time that he had a sobering accident while riding his scooter one morning on the way to school.

“I was probably going too fast,” Bob sighs as he explains how he laid the scooter on its side to avoid a car that was going to hit him. He slid and spun a few times before hitting his head, hard.

Bob’s injuries were serious and he spent several weeks in the hospital recovering from a concussion that left him with chronic headaches.

Even so, a year later when all of his friends were getting motorcycles, Bob asked his parents about getting one too. His Dad quickly rejected the idea and suggested he think about buying an airplane instead.

Bob was disappointed he couldn’t have a motorcycle, but he liked the idea of having his own airplane. At 19 years old, Bob bought his very first plane for only $395.

“It was a nice red 40 horsepower CP40 Portfield that could really go,” Bob recalls. “It had a top speed of 80 miles per hour!”

Bob’s dad made sure Bob took all of the right precautions and taught him everything he knew about flying. On one occasion, his Dad was helping him learn how to fly with a yoke instead of a stick for controls and when they were preparing to land, the wind started to pick up.

His dad had some difficulty getting the plane stabilized and bounced a few times on the runway before Bob took control. He wanted to show his dad how it was done. After a clean approach and smooth landing, his dad just muttered,”You better mind your own business kid.”

It wasn’t long after Bob learned to fly that the United States joined WWII and young men everywhere were being drafted to serve in the war. Right away, Bob’s dad was called upon to help instruct new pilots in the Army.

Bob was called up to serve too, but because of his head injury, he was initially declared not fit for service. However, after several calls and physicals, he was sent to California to join the Navy. Bob only served a few months before his head injury was discovered and he was sent home again.

Throughout the rest of the war, Bob lived at home, sold cars and helped his mother manage the dealership and garage. Eventually the war ended, his father came home and life went back to normal.

Then one weekend, Bob was serving as the best man at a friend’s wedding when he fell for the maid of honor. He called her up a short time later for a date and the two hit it off.

After dating for six months, Bob and Betty were married in May of 1946. Bob continued to work for the family dealership and the happy couple lived in his parent’s basement while they saved the $6,000 they needed to build their first home. But they wouldn’t stay in Lincoln forever.

Bob had come down with pneumonia several times and a doctor recommended the family move to a different climate if Bob wanted to live long enough to see old age.

“We didn’t have much of a plan,” Bob said. “But we knew a few people out there already.”

Soon, Bob, Betty and their two daughters packed everything up and made the long trip out to California.

Bob began a career selling real estate and while he didn’t own a plane anymore, he still found time to rent one from time to time and go flying with friends.

In 1988 at the age of 65, Bob retired from real estate and moved back with his wife to their hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska.

They both wanted to be close to family and old friends, but Bob admits that his story gets a little dull after the retirement move back to Lincoln.

This last year, Bob and his wife celebrated 70 years of marriage and still live in the cozy ranch they bought when they first moved back.

At 93, Bob is facing the reality of slowing down. “These old legs don’t work like they used to,” he laughs as he complains about old age. When asked about the last time he flew a plane, with disappointment and certainty Bob responds with,“1970.”

It seems like a long time ago to some of us, but Bob’s memory still keeps a good grasp on those experiences and his basement is filled with catalogs, stories, drawings and old snapshots of planes that either Bob or his father owned.

As he tries to put into words what it feels like to fly, Bob’s eyes light up and he smiles.

“When you’re in the air you can do and go wherever you please. You don’t really have anyone else telling you what to do. You can be your own boss.”

Those could be just the youthful memories of a 93-year-old man or the excited wishes of a six-year-old boy, but what they have in common is what matters most. They both love to fly.

January 4, 2017

Love4

Natalie Elsberry

By Asha Timperley

Natalie Elsberry always knew she’d work in the wedding industry.

She loved the pretty flowers, the unbridled spirit of joy and just knowing that it was someone’s special, longed-for day.

“I was a weird kid,” she said with a laugh. “I liked all that cliche stuff.”

At first she thought she’d be a wedding planner. She’d be the woman with the ideas, the keeper of the wedding secrets and surprises and she’d do it all with ease and a little wedding-day magic. But that was far from the reality of being an actual wedding planner.

Natalie helped a few of her cousins plan their weddings, and while improvising is her strong suit, the sheer number of details zapped any wedding-day bliss that she hoped to experience.

For a while she thought about opening a wedding reception hall. She had the plans ready to go and had even scoped out a spot for her idea to take shape, but the more she thought about the logistics the less she was convinced her idea would work.

So, she circled back to what she really loved about weddings – flowers.

Now, eight years later, I Bloom. is her wedding industry job. She’s not the wedding planner or the reception hall host, she’s the flower lady and it’s the perfect job for Natalie.

Her days involve getting shipments of flowers delivered to her house, helping clients envision flowers for their weddings, designing bouquets and talking with various local and wholesale flower vendors.

Last year she and her husband moved their family to a bigger house to accommodate her growing business. They needed a bigger basement for production and a 3-car garage to house her industrial-sized flower refrigerator.

This year alone, Natalie and her assistants worked 79 weddings, and next year she expects to do more. It’s crazy, and good and so much more than she expected when she started out.

Flowers have always been part of her life, mostly because they were a major part of her mother’s life. Natalie grew up in a little house with a huge yard where her mother expanded her flower collection a little each year. The running joke is that after all of Natalie’s siblings get married in her parents’ backyard, her mom will convert any leftover green space to flower beds.

Gardening was her mother’s therapy of sorts, it was where she felt most at home and could relax from the pressures of being a mom with seven kids. Natalie said she and her siblings were often out gardening alongside her mother, pulling weeds or just running around outside.

As she got older, Natalie realized school wasn’t her thing. She went to college on and off for a few years at UNL and SCC, taking any flower and business courses that were available to her.

In 2006 she got married in her parents’ flower-filled backyard. She designed the flowers for her own wedding, using a monochromatic palette and filling every inch with romantic bouquets and centerpieces.

For the next few years, Natalie worked various full time jobs while she booked wedding gigs on the side. Her work started to get noticed by more than just friends and family and in 2008 she officially launched I Bloom.

The first year in business, Natalie booked three weddings, the next year she did twelve and the number has only grown from there.

This year was a little rough, she said with a laugh. It wasn’t uncommon to have four weddings scheduled for a single weekend this past June.

But busy isn’t a bad thing, she said. It’s growth and it’s what she always hoped for when she started I Bloom., even if it’s not all what she expected.

She didn’t plan on growing her business to the point where her family needed to move. Or that she’d be on a first-name basis with the delivery men who show up on a weekly basis with shipments of flowers. She also didn’t anticipate the kind of growth that would necessitate juggling being a full-time mom and a business owner.

Her days are full of flowers and excited brides-to-be, but they’re also full of cleaning up kid-inspired messes, keeping her family fed and playing her fair share of dolls with her three girls. Natalie’s office is on the first floor or her house, where her kids can go back and forth between their mom and their toys, but she can still stay on top of emails, meetings and Pinterest inspiration boards.

This is her life, and even in the chaos of growing her business and her family, Natalie said these last few years have felt like her sweet spot.

It feels like she’s right where she’s supposed to be, like her story is finally starting to make sense, it’s more than she bargained for at times, but it’s also a whole lot more than just flowers and weddings.

December 28, 2016

Love4

Jill Morstad

By Asha Timperley

Walking into her house, you wouldn’t know that Jill Morstad is the owner of two large Belgian Shepherds.

There was no barking, no jumping, no licking and the dogs were nowhere to be seen. It’s not that Jill doesn’t love her dogs or is compelled to keep her house in a perpetually manicured state, actually it’s the opposite – her dogs have boundaries, because she loves them.

This is a distinction that she’s careful to make, and it comes from her more than 30 years of teaching people to train their dogs. Offering classes at dog clubs, in private homes, animal shelters and vet clinics, Jill has a broad understanding of the communication between dogs and owners. But really, she said, her job is about listening to stories.

“Everybody’s pet is a story,” she said.

And while it might sound a little strange to talk about dog training in terms of stories, Jill said people have so many preconceptions about training and even owning a dog based on their personal experiences. Things like their childhood pet, a recently deceased animal or even a neighbor’s dog can color a story very quickly, she said, and that’s natural.

But her job is to hear those stories, understand their origin and articulate their impact. She does this with her clients, and she’s done this since she was an 8-year-old who owned her first dog.

Like a lot of kids, Jill started asking for a dog as soon as she could find the words. She was fascinated by the dog books at the school library, checking them out one by one and reading them cover to cover. These books brought the dog-owning experience to life for her until her family was given a dog by a family member who couldn’t care for it any more.

Little 8-year-old Jill and her dad took the dog to a local training class where the instructor was an AKC judge. It didn’t take long before Jill was immersed in the dog training world – connecting with local trainers, reading any training book she could get her hands on and researching local dog shows to attend. It suddenly became her whole world.

As she got older, Jill said she realized why she loved training so much. It was more than just shaping an animal or making it do what she wanted, it was about communication, about understanding the void between humans and dogs and figuring out how to bridge that gap. There was something highly natural, yet philosophical about the process and Jill loved that.

When she went off to college, she studied journalism because of her fascination with communication and went on to work at a small publishing company shortly after graduation. Within a year of graduating, Jill owned a dog and started training it for competitions. In her free time she traveled around the Midwest taking her dog to obedience competitions and connecting with other area trainers.

Eventually Jill moved to Missouri to pursue her graduate degree in folklore and language and then came to Lincoln in the early 90s to work on her PhD. She taught at UNL and is now an English and writing professor at Union College.

She often asks her students, “What would you read about or think about if it was left entirely up to you?”

For Jill, the answer to that question is dog training. It’s where her passion and purpose collide and it’s a way that she feels like she can train people in Lincoln to care well for their dogs to better individual homes, neighborhoods and the community as a whole.

Jill’s days are spent vacillating between teaching English, training dog owners, hosting a weekly radio show about dog ownership, preparing for dog shows and keeping up with her own dogs during her morning run.

Communication has been a consistent part of her story.

Her two jobs are centered on using communication to relay a message and create order. For dogs, this happens through verbal commands and non-verbal signals, and with her students, she’s realized that even with the perfectly chosen words, not even the English language can be articulated 100 percent accurately.

Whether it’s the way she’s introducing a concept to her college students or how she’s working with a dog and its owner, there’s a high level of intentionality in all of Jill’s work.

Her entire story has been one of learning and sharing. It’s been about more than just a love of animals or a love of words, but a union between these two seemingly separate disciplines.

December 21, 2016

Love4

Barbara Zach

By Asha Timperley

Barbara Zach didn’t grow up in a music-saturated house.

Her parents didn’t have a favorite band or music genre that they played for her and her five siblings, and they also didn’t own a TV.

It’s not that her parents were opposed to music or entertainment, it just wasn’t something that was ever emphasized.

But the Zach house wasn’t quiet either, Barbara said. There were six kids running around at any given time and as they got older the noise only intensified.

Music filtered into the house via piano lessons and a Christian rock band that her four brothers started. It was loud and a little chaotic.

So, just how did Barbara end up as the Executive Director of Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra? Now, that’s a good story.

Barbara said a future in music was never on her radar as a child. Sure, she was in choir during high school, but a career in music? No way.

She was a highly focused and driven child, which led her to be a math major when she attended UNL. She loved the precise nature of all things math-related – it just made sense to her. While in school, she auditioned for the choir as another way to get involved. Barbara said she was surprised at how much she loved the experience and enjoyed being part of a musical group.

It was during her choir experience that she heard a song that dramatically altered her trajectory – Bach’s St. John Passion. Her choir practiced and performed the 18th century piece and Barbara remembers being overwhelmed by the emotion behind the composition. It was a feeling that she’d never experienced, and one she didn’t want to ever lose.

She became a Bach addict, letting her math-geared brain obsess over the musical perfection of his work and getting lost in the beauty and intricacy of each of his compositions.

Up until this point, Barbara was convinced she’d graduate and work as a high-level math teacher. She was a calculus TA, but decided to also join the School of Music and double major in math and piano performance.

Shortly after graduating, a job at the Lincoln symphony opened up and she jumped at the chance to be a part of something music-related. The actual position was basically three jobs rolled into one, and for a high-achieving and focused person like Barbara, it was the perfect fit.

After being in a secluded piano practice room for the past few years of college, she was suddenly flung into the music community. She loved the way 70 unique musicians could come together and create music that highlighted their collective skills, merging their individual talents into something that was greater than any one musician.

A few years later the executive director position at the symphony opened up, and Barbara was ready to take on a new challenge. It’s a role that involves a great knowledge of music, but also a lot of community interaction.

Some days are filled with meetings and community collaboration, others are more logistical in nature, but no two days of work are the same. The days are full and the hours are long, but Barbara said she loves it all. She loves how music is such a big part of her life, how she gets the privilege of intimately knowing the Lincoln music community and that she can see the work of the musicians and donors come together in a way that celebrates and impacts the city.

But it’s not a job without stress, and while she shuts off her work email when she leaves the office, she can’t shut down her brain. She’ll wake up in the middle of the night thinking about an upcoming event or trying to solve a work-related problem, because running a nonprofit takes a certain amount of personal investment.

After being in this role for the past 12 years, Barbara has learned a thing or two about herself and her work.

She’s learned the importance of rest, how to take her job seriously, but also take time to recharge.

She’s come to understand the power of music, the way it can unify a community and a city.

And she’s started to understand how her own story plays into all of her work. Sure, she didn’t grow up with music, but she thinks maybe that’s why it is so special to her.

She came to music on her own, with no preconceived notions about what was ‘good’ or ‘bad.’ She found what she loved, what made her think and feel and she went after it.

She still thinks about that moment when she heard Bach’s St. John Passion for the first time and her whole world opened up. There’s something about that moment that Barbara said she carries with her now and always will.

Her story is about finding herself through music. It wasn’t where she expected to find her story, or where she thought she’d be investing in her community, but that element of surprise has made it all the more special.

December 14, 2016

Love4

Grant Peterson

By Asha Timperley

Grant Peterson is a self-proclaimed do-it-yourself-er.

He’s watched hours of YouTube videos and web tutorials to help him on his latest projects, he’s sourced reclaimed wood from Craigslist like it’s his full-time job and a few years ago he started his own business.

But all of this is in addition to his day-job as a high school social studies teacher.

He is a 25-year-old with two distinct storylines.

Grant grew up in Lincoln and said some of his earliest memories are of doing house projects with his dad and grandfather. He loved watching them tinker with tools, and seeing a project go from start to finish.

In high school, he took his first wood shop class where he learned the basics of furniture making. When he went to college and moved into his first house, he had a choice to make about furniture – buy average furniture that will probably fall apart or make something that would last.

This question prompted Grant to make his first bedroom set. After his friends and family saw his work, he quickly received requests for other projects. He made bookshelves and coffee tables during school as a hobby, but also as a way to earn a little extra money.

It was during this season of going to school and making furniture that Grant had a sudden realization about his career path. He was attending Baylor University pursuing a degree in business when he realized the only reason he was a business major was for financial reasons.

He had grand plans of getting a great job post-graduation and taking home a substantial paycheck. It was a nice thought that promised a comfortable life, and while there was nothing wrong with wanting a comfortable life, he realized he’d be comfortable but bored.

So, Grant went to Plan B – teaching. His mom was a teacher and he’d seen the way she could value and impact students through her work, and he liked having that sense of purpose. His motivation quickly switched from monetary to relational as he realized the kind of impact he wanted to make with his career.

He transferred to UNL, where he finished up his degree and then moved to Lexington, Nebraska for his first teaching job.

It was here that he officially launched his custom-woodworking business – Amos Approved. His business and logo feature his golden retriever, Amos, who is Grant’s woodworking buddy and constant companion.

The name of this business actually wasn’t his idea, a friend thought it up, and Grant was a little hesitant to run with a concept involving his dog. However, the name stuck out to customers and pointed to the level of excellence that Grant puts into each of his projects.

He laughed about the fact that people often call him and ask about Amos before they even get around to their reason for calling Grant about a woodworking project.

Juggling the two jobs and passions has been a major learning curve, he said, there’s no handbook for how to run a business, be a woodworker and full-time teacher. However, Grant wouldn’t have it any other way.

Learning has been a consistent theme in his life – it’s what he loves about woodworking and it’s what he loves about teaching.

Woodworking takes a lot of patience and diligence and Grant said no project goes without a bump in the road. He’s learned various techniques from his grandpa and father. He’s also experienced the generosity of fellow craftsmen like his mentor and friend, BJ, who lent Grant tools and his expertise as he started his business.

Being a high school social studies teacher is a job that changes every day. It’s dependent on his students, the subject matter he’s teaching, the time of year and just the nature of high school.

This past year, Grant moved back to Lincoln and started teaching at East High School. He coached football this fall and is learning the rhythms of a new school.

He bought a house and is doing major renovations on it, with Amos carefully watching his every move.

Grant’s story isn’t what he imagined for himself when he started college. He’s figuring it out as he goes, learning from his mistakes and working to understand how to be confident and courageous as he teaches and builds his business.

These are lessons that can’t be taught via a YouTube video, it’s trial and error, but at the end of the day that kind of methodology is what makes Grant proud of his two storylines.

December 7, 2016

Love10

Brian Podwinski

By Asha Timperley

Brian Podwinski pointed to an old stone wall in the basement of his brewery.

“That wall is probably about 116 years old,” he said, describing the history behind Robber’s Cave, the location of Blue Blood Brewing Company.

Five years ago, Brian could not have imagined standing in the basement of a historic brewery. After all, 10 years ago he was starting a government desk job and nearly 15 years ago he was putting on a Lincoln Police Department uniform for the first time.

“It’s been one crazy ride,” he said with a laugh, and you can tell by his face that he’s not kidding.

There’s a strong sense of pride and a fair share of exhaustion weaved in to Brian’s story. And while it’s not one he would have mapped out himself, it’s one he owns every day.

“Things happen for a reason, right?” he said with a shrug.

In college, Brian was on the path to medical school. He enrolled in biology and chemistry classes, but soon realized the medical field was not his calling. He took an interest in criminal justice and did an internship with the Lincoln Police Department before signing on as an officer in 2000.

Brian loved his job as a police officer. It was a great way to serve his community, and the camaraderie he built with his fellow officers was unlike anything he’d ever experienced before. Sure, the job was tough, he said, but he was proud of the work he was doing and thankful for a job he loved.

After just a few years on the force, Brian was badly injured during a training exercise. Over the next year, he had three shoulder surgeries and underwent physical therapy before retiring from the Department.

“Now what?” he thought.

Brian had gone from having a job he loved to questioning his next steps. He was angry, frustrated and confused about what to do next. He ended up working a government desk job for the next few years, buying himself some time to establish a plan.

It was during this season that Brian started experimenting with home brewing. He jokes that his desk job increased his alcohol consumption, but the truth is he was just spending more time making beer than drinking the mainstream brews.

Home brewing involved creativity and a certain amount of science, he said. The process fascinated him and the end result of his work was 110 percent worth the effort. He started to wonder if just maybe brewing beer could be his full-time gig.

After working a desk job, Brian said he loved the thought of running his own business. He also loved the idea of brewing beer every day… for a living. So, over the next year or so he spent his free time working up a business plan and perfecting his brewing methods.

And in December 2011 he opened Blue Blood Brewing Company.

From the start there was a lot of momentum behind the brewery. It had been a while since a local brewing company had opened in Lincoln, and people were anxious to see what Blue Blood had to offer.

His goal was two-fold – start his own business and keep the ingredients and talent local. He wanted to give back to the community, which sounds cliche, he said, but it was true. Brian said he was tired of hearing the big players in the beer market boast about their local ties, but their actual community impact was minimal.

“I wanted the money to stay in town, and that’s what we’re doing,” he said.

Currently, Blue Blood employs 70 full-time and part-time employees. That number has jumped significantly over the past few years as Brian has grown his operation and moved to a new taproom and brewing facility located above Lincoln’s historic Robber’s Cave.

It’s a big responsibility to employ that many people, he said, and it’s an even bigger job to serve his employees well. He wants to run Blue Blood with the same kind of camaraderie that he felt when he was part of the police force. Sure, the experiences are vastly different, but at the end of the day, he does his best to make his employees feel like family.

Opening a local brewery seemed like a no-brainer for Brian. It merged his passion and his talent, but it was also risky. He’d never run a business, let alone a brewery, and figuring out how to brew larger batches and manage distribution methods were entirely new territory, but he was convinced he could make it work – and he has.

What’s interesting about Brian’s story is that he used his whole story, not just the good parts, to shape his future. He could have avoided his past as an officer and stayed angry about his injury, but he didn’t. He combined his love of brewing with his devotion to the police force and found a new story, maybe even a better one.

If Brian hadn’t been injured, he’d probably still be a police officer, but he also wouldn’t own and run a brewery. The fact is, there’s no way to judge which path is better, which one would have been easier or which one would have made Brian happier.

It’s just like he said, “Everything happens for a reason, right?”

November 30, 2016

Love3

Peggy Gomez

By Asha Timperley

Peggy Gomez said that Mondays are typically her busiest day at the shop. She does inventory and helps the customers who come in looking for various art supplies.

Running and owning Gomez Art Supply has become her life. It wasn’t what she set out to do, but somehow it’s become her story.

As a kid, Peggy said she was always interested in art. She grew up in Omaha as the daughter of a father with Mexican heritage and a mother with Irish blood. They were supportive of her love for art and encouraged her to pursue it during school. She earned a Bachelors in Fine Arts at UNL and her Master’s in Fine Arts at the University of Minnesota, before returning to Lincoln to teach.

Peggy taught at the University for nearly 10 years, specializing in drawing and printmaking, and while she enjoyed working with the students, she said she knew she didn’t want teaching to be her full-time gig.

She remembers overhearing students talk about how they wished there was a local place to buy art supplies in Lincoln. The big stores were either not helpful or many were located far from campus. Back when Peggy was in school, there were small art shops in town, but they’d since closed, giving her the idea that just maybe she could open an art supply shop.

The idea slowly grew over the years and eventually she quit her job at the University with the hopes of starting her own business.

But in 2002, time stood still for Peggy. Her father passed away, leaving a big void in her life, and causing her to take some time off to figure out her next step.

Her father was the kind of dad everyone hopes they have, she said. He was always showering her and her two sisters with encouraging words, often looking them in the eyes and saying, ‘Did I tell you how much I love you today?’

“In life, if you’re lucky, you get what you need in a family,” Peggy said. “And my dad was the one we were all closest to.”

She still wishes he could have been around when she opened the doors to Gomez Art Supply in the fall of 2003. Her father was a businessman himself, who would have loved to see Peggy settle on a career, she said, but she always knew he was proud of her.

She intentionally named the shop ‘Gomez’ as a tribute to her father. It’s a good name, she said, and he was a good man – she keeps an old picture of him hanging on a wall behind the register in the shop.

Most days, Peggy said, she’s proud of how she’s kept her shop open and thriving for 13 years – and she knows her dad would be proud too. She’s got grit and lots of staying power, she’s not easily swayed and isn’t fussy about the little things.

When a big name art supply shop moved in just blocks from her shop, she thought maybe her days were numbered, but they weren’t. Peggy’s connection and support from the University, along with her integration into the Lincoln small business community have made her and her shop a well-known and loved part of downtown Lincoln.

But there are bad days too, she said. Her heart still sinks when a customer leaves a bad online review or when she overhears people in the shop complain.

It feels personal, she said, and the hardest part is learning how to develop a thick skin. Sure, her business isn’t all of who she is, but there is so much about Peggy that’s tied to her work.

When Peggy isn’t in the shop, she’s running the Tugboat art gallery in collaboration with other local artists. The gallery is a place where artists of all kinds can show their work and engage with the community. She doesn’t financially benefit from this kind of work, she just does it. It’s her way of giving back to Lincoln and supporting something she values.

Being a supportive part of the community was always in her rough sketch of a business plan. It’s something her dad did, and something she knew she wanted to be part of her legacy as well.

Gomez Art Supply is where Peggy saw her hazy future clear up. It’s where her love of art, community and quality converged. It’s a place that bears her family name, and one that she’s proud to own and operate even on the days when it’s stressful and overwhelming.

It isn’t a big art superstore and it never will be. It has hand-drawn murals and signs, and that’s the way it’s going to stay. It’s got character, spunk and it has weathered its fair share of uncertainty, but it’s Peggy’s shop and when she shuts off the lights and locks the door, that’s what matters.

November 23, 2016

Love5

Ashley Carr

By Asha Timperley

Ashley Carr is best known by over 2,000 refugees and immigrants in Lincoln as “Ashley Dina Har.”

In English, this translates to ‘very crazy Ashley.’

As a refugee resettlement case manager, Ashley’s days are a lot like her nickname – crazy. She drives her clients to doctor appointments and school, teaches them how to ride the bus, helps them apply for jobs or takes them shopping at a local thrift store.

Her job is to help shoulder the burden for people who are coming to the United States for the first time, she said, and it’s humbling work.

So many of her clients refer to her as ‘very crazy Ashley’ because she loves to make people laugh. Whether she’s cranking up country music as she drives around town or stumbling over phrases in another language, Ashely does it all with a smile that welcomes and invites people to settle in to Lincoln.

Her job is what she dreamed of doing, even though it’s so different than what she expected.

Ashley said it was during a study abroad trip to Italy that she really started to understand her love of different cultures. She was immediately fascinated by the Italian culture and wanted to immerse herself in the everyday life of the people – but there was a problem, she didn’t know the language. It was frustrating to want to enter into another culture, but not be able to because there were so many barriers. This experience is what sparked her interest in refugees and immigrants.

While she laughs now about that fact that her temporary discomfort during her study abroad trip opened her eyes to the experience of refugees and immigrants, it stirred up a passion for people that is so evident in her work.

Ashley started out as an intern at the Lincoln Literacy Council, where she eventually received a full-time job, before becoming a case manager with Catholic Social Services.

During her work, Ashley said her eyes have been opened to the heartbreaking stories of people escaping difficult situations with the hope of finding safety and a renewed sense of home. Many of them come to Lincoln with few possessions and little knowledge about American culture, other than what they’ve seen on TV or heard from family and friends.

During the refugee resettlement process, refugees take culture orientation classes in their homeland before they come to the United States. But Ashley said the reality of what they experience is so different than what they’ve learned during their classes. Things like running water, ovens, vacuum cleaners and how to take a shower are anomalies to many refugees, depending on their country of origin. There’s a huge learning curve, Ashley said, but she’s been so impressed with the resilience of her clients.

After two years as a refugee resettlement case manager, Ashley said it’s hard not to become numb to the traumatic stories that she hears. She said the initial intake meeting is often highly emotional. They tell her stories of what or who they’ve lost during their resettlement process and Ashley sits and listens.

She said it’s difficult not to dwell on these stories when she’s away from work, however, she also wants to remember the special moments of each case. One of those moments is when she meets a family at the airport for the first time.

Ashley is at the airport all the time, but these trips are special.

For many refugees, driving in a car is a big adjustment, so being in an airplane can be extremely overwhelming. She said they often get off the plane tired from days of travel, confused and nervous about their new home. They’re greeted by other family members or friends who have been in their shoes before… and then there’s Ashley, smiling and ready to hug them or shake their hand, welcoming them to their new home.

She said that no matter how many airport runs she’s done, she always tries to treat each airport reception like it’s the first one. She never wants to do it because it’s just part of her job, she wants to welcome people to Lincoln because she’s excited they’re here.

During one of her first meetings with a new client, Ashley said she likes to explain that she’s there to help them find resources and adjust to their new surroundings, but most importantly, she reassures them that they’re safe.

She looks them in the eyes, understanding as much as she can about their story, and says: “Your suffering is done.”

She explains that life won’t be easy, but they don’t have to live in fear anymore, and this is a welcomed and surprising sentiment for most refugees to hear.

“Their countries have disregarded them, so this is a big turning point,” Ashley said. “I feel grateful to be able to tell them that.”

For Ashley, her work has become more than clocking in and out of the office everyday.

Her clients have become her friends. They invite her over for meals, holiday gatherings and birthdays. Ashley has become an extension of so many families and cultures in Lincoln over the past two years, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

Ashley has helped restore dignity and hope to people by making Lincoln a home, not just a destination.

It’s not an easy job. It’s heavy and oftentimes overwhelming. The hours can be long and every family has a unique set of challenging needs, but Ashley said she can’t give it up. Her work has become a place where her passion and greatest joy align. It’s where she’s learned the most about herself and her city, about cultures and people who she never could have imagined meeting.

Her clients have taught her to see what matters, to value what matters and to see and hear the stories of people who matter.

November 16, 2016

Love5

Dick Budig

By Asha Timperley

“Today we received a beautiful gift from you… we cannot find the words to describe it…”

Dick Budig gets cards in the mail with these kinds of sentiments on a fairly consistent basis. He doesn’t really know the woman who sent him this letter, in fact, he’s never even met her… but he recently painted a portrait of her deceased son.

Over the past 16 years, painting portraits of men and women killed in war has become Dick’s hobby. He does his work completely free of charge, seeking to honor the families of these heroes and thank them for their sacrifice.

It’s work that satisfies his soul, and it’s a job he created because he saw a need that was unmet – both in the community and in his own heart.

“I’ll be 80 this month,” Dick said, looking over his glasses. “I’ve been around a while.”

He’s seen a lot, done a lot and all of it, he said, has shaped why he’s painting portraits of fallen heroes.

As a child of the ’40s, Dick said he remembers the big events of World War 2. He remembers hearing about Hitler marching into Poland, saying goodbye to his relatives who went off to fight and the look on his parents’ faces when they opened a telegram telling them their family members weren’t coming home.

He and his friends played ‘war’ endlessly, making up creative skits and scenarios that mimicked what they heard war was like overseas. But the reality of war was also very apparent to Dick, even at the age of 10. He said he missed his relatives who died in the war, and not getting a chance to say goodbye seemed wrong.

When Dick got older, he went into the military as well. Serving as a member of the Air Force, his days were spent on a SAC base where his unit guarded planes between the conflicts in Korea and Vietnam.

It wasn’t as bad as other wars, he said. However, there was no guarantee that he or his buddies would be coming back from war – but he did.

Dick came home to his wife and two young children and they settled in his hometown of McCook, Nebraska. Here, he attended a community college where he was a pre-med student, until he realized he couldn’t hack chemistry. He changed his degree to journalism and worked for the McCook newspaper for a few years.

But after a while, Dick said he couldn’t sit at his desk and pound on his typewriter anymore. He moved his family to Lincoln, where he transitioned from journalism to advertising. From there, his work history gets complicated.

“I did a thousand little things,” Dick said with a laugh.

He was a hairdresser, journalist, owned an advertising agency, gold refinery, jewelry design shop, an ice cream shop and eventually a pawn shop.

At one point, he looked into buying a bank, but couldn’t afford it, and soon realized a pawn shop functioned a lot like a “poor man’s bank.”

Dick spent his days tinkering with broken electronics, fixing them up and selling them for a profit. He did so well, in fact, that he was able to pursue one of his long-term passions that he’d since put on the back burner – painting.

As a kid, Dick was always drawing. He would spend hours sitting and sketching, and one day he added color to his work, opening his eyes to the world of painting.

But with a family, there was little time to paint professionally or even pursue it as a hobby. He needed to make money, and art wasn’t a viable option for feeding his family.

After Dick retired in 2000, he circled back to painting. He’d always loved portraits and began to make time to pursue his art. He realized that he needed people to paint, and who better to paint than fallen heroes, he thought.

When he started out, families were a little skeptical of his work, and understandably so. He said oftentimes families were still mourning their loved ones and couldn’t fathom someone offering to paint a portrait free of charge, but Dick’s offer was truly that simple and sincere.

He’s starting to lose track, but Dick said he’s painted somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 portraits of fallen war heroes. He started out painting just Nebraska soldiers, but said he can’t say ‘no’ to families.

When parents contact him they often share a lot about their child with him – their likes, dislikes, character traits and personality and even how they passed away.

“They tell you these stories and it’s difficult,” he said. “These kids are gone, just gone. But there’s still something magic about an oil painting I think…”

When he paints, he doesn’t think about the soldier’s story or even their family, he thinks about the mechanics of what he’s doing. The colors he’s using, the detail and shading – every detail needs to be just right. Dick said when he paints, it’s like times stops and it’s wonderful.

Some portraits take him a few days, others can take up to a month to complete, and when a painting is done the family either comes to pick it up from his studio or Dick sends them the portrait in the mail.

“People come in here to see the portrait and they just stand here and weep,” he said. “And I get some really nice cards.”

He pulled a few pieces of paper out of a stack, “These are some of my favorites.”

Written in pencil on lined notebook paper were notes from two young girls whose father was killed in the Middle East. They dotted their ‘I’s’ with hearts and told Mr. Dick how he was their favorite artist because of the portrait he’d painted of their father.

‘This is better than money,” he said, holding up the letters. “You can’t buy this.”

Dick’s story has become about giving stories back to families. He knows that a big reason he paints portraits is because it’s his own way of mourning the loss of his family members. But it’s also allowed him to step into the lives of families from across the country. To sit with them in their pain, hear their story and give them something to remember.

He may just be painting portraits, but to the families who receive his work, Dick is their hero.

November 9, 2016

Love5

Alex and Chloe

By Asha Timperley

Before Alex and Chloe got married they made a plan.

The two knew they wanted to work together, more specifically, they wanted to run a sustainable farm. But they wanted to do more than just dream about their future, they wanted to make it happen. So, they wrote up a 3-page, single-spaced manifesto of sorts that outlined their hopes and dreams.

Their plan included everything from a loose timeline of when they’d start their work to the kinds of crops and livestock they wanted to raise. It mapped out when they hoped to start a family, buy land and expand production. Alex and Chloe even sketched up a small picture of what they wanted their farm to look like. Then, they sent their plan to a handful of close friends and family.

That was almost nine years ago.

Now, Alex and Chloe are the proud owners of Robinette Farms in Martell, Nebraska. They’ve lived and worked on the farm since 2010 and can’t imagine their lives anywhere else. The house, the land and even their community has been a big part of their story over the past six years, and it’s shown them how their plans are ultimately out of their control.

Their twin daughters, Fiona and Roisin, twirled around the kitchen in their tights and ballet skirts, flitting back and forth in the morning light of the kitchen as Alex and Chloe watched them from the living room. The girls giggled between singing songs and eating snacks and then went back to playing their make-believe game.

Alex said starting a family was always a part of their plan. Sure, they had big dreams for their farm but a family was also a major priority. Alex and Chloe had their first daughter, Nina, shortly after moving to the farm in 2010 and the twins followed three years later.

While their family grew, the farm expanded as well. Alex described Chloe as the “brains” behind the farm because of her years of experience working on small farms in Colorado and Vermont.

So when Chloe needed to take a break and stay home with their three daughters, it was time for Alex to step in and make more of the decisions about the farm. Up until then, Chloe’s years of experience and intuition about farming had led their efforts, and Alex was more calculated in his methods. He loved getting his hands dirty and working in the fields, but lacked the years of experience that Chloe possessed.

And yet, they made it work. Chloe took some time off and Alex worked to expand the farm in 2013. They added more vegetable varieties and livestock to their operation, working to find ways to keep growing the farm. It was a lot of work, but also a beautiful season of growth for their family and the farm.

In January 2014, just as Alex and Chloe were finalizing their budget and planning for the new year, their plans suddenly changed.

Alex’s car was rear-ended while at a stoplight near their home. A vehicle going 60 mph slammed into the back of his Subaru, crushing his car and spine. Alex was rushed to the hospital and diagnosed with a critical spinal cord injury.

In that moment, Alex said, nothing else mattered to him other than his family. His priority became taking care of himself so that he could care for Chloe and the girls. While his injury was critical, he wasn’t permanently paralyzed. Alex spent the next two years doing rehabilitation in Lincoln while Chloe ran the operation at the farm.

They quickly re-evaluated their plan for 2014 and made changes to accommodate Alex’s injury. They knew they couldn’t do as much as they had, but they weren’t about to throw up their hands and give up.

Alex and Chloe said that while the accident was a horrible experience it also showed them what an amazing community they had around them. Friends, family and customers raised money to help pay for medical bills and showed up to help with the daily farm chores. Alex’s friends from the volunteer firefighter department showed up at their house to build a ramp for Alex’s wheelchair. There were so many big and small moments that pushed their family forward and gave them the ability to keep moving even in the midst of pain and unmet expectations.

Their plans changed, but so did their perspective.

Between the farm, parenthood and the accident, Alex and Chloe said they’ve learned to let go of some of their plans. They’ve realized so much of life is out of their control, which can either be a freeing or crippling feeling.

They’ve chosen to lean in to their lack of control rather than resist it. In farming itself, there’s so much that’s out of your control – the weather, the growth patterns and even the customers – and yet, Alex said the relational part of their work is what’s made them keep going.

Knowing the stories of families and chefs who use and eat their foods makes the long days in the field or doing office work worthwhile. Alex and Chloe said their relationship has also grown stronger as a result of their work together.

“When you say ‘In sickness and in health,’ you don’t necessarily know what that means,” Alex said. “But we’ve lived that and seen people step up to help us.”

Not every day on the farm is easy – it’s their dream and their livelihood. But when Alex and Chloe think back to that manifesto they wrote all those years ago, they smile because so much of what they wrote has come to life. They own a farm. They have a family. They have each other, and so much more.

They set goals and achieved lots of them, but their story is what happened along the way.

November 2, 2016

Love5

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