4 minute read
Meet the Knoepfle Family: Dogs Welcome Here!
www.DanvilleLivingCA.com @DanvilleLivingCA #DanvilleLivingCA
By Alexandra Sullivan, Resident since 2017
A little over eight years ago, Dave and Becky Knoepfle moved to Danville with their twins, Charlie and Ellie, now 16. Settled along the Iron Horse Trail, within walking distance to all that downtown has to offer, the family has the most amazing weekly goal - park the car on Friday afternoon, and don’t touch it again until Monday morning.
Becky and Dave met back in high school - 34 years ago in Mt. Prospect, Illinois. They’ve been happily married for the last 23 years and enjoy sharing all of those early years memories with their kids (hello prom pics!).
by Kim Lind Photography
Following high school, Becky went on to earn her B.S. in Social Work from Loyola University in Chicago. Dave earned his B.S. in Business from Miami University in Ohio and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Becky worked in the social services and non-profits for years before she moved on to a new career. She is now the Director of Operations for the Walnut Creek office of CLA, LLP, a national accounting firm. After college, Dave spent 25 years working in marketing for companies like Weber BBQ, Kraft Foods, Wrigley, Dr. Pepper/ Snapple, and Big Heart Pet. He is now the founder and CEO of COAST+RANGE Pet, “a direct-to-consumer e-commerce pet nutrition company.”
COAST+RANGE Pet is “transforming the pet industry by making better food and making it easy for pet parents to find the right food for their dog’s unique nutritional needs.” Dave saw a need to change the way pet owners purchase the food they give their 4-legged loved ones during the several years he worked in the pet industry. With health issues in dogs rising rapidly across the US, he knew that improving what dogs ate, and what information their owners were given, would make a great difference in their longterm health. Enter COAST+RANGE Pet! Of course, the two that probably benefit the most from dad’s dog food business are the Knoepfles two rescue pups, Dharma, 11, and Penny, 10 months.
Dharma, a black lab and Penny, a gianteared mystery puppy!
Dave and Becky know that starting a business in the Bay Area is a tricky thing, but, “the Danville community is incredibly strong and welcoming, especially as we started COAST+RANGE Pet. Many of our neighbors were early customers (including customer #1) and have offered support, advice, and encouragement as we’ve grown. The Town of Danville has been amazing too, as their business development team has assisted us with networking, publicity, and even help with finding a retail/office space we plan to open downtown in 2020.”
Ellie, Becky, Charlie, and Dave Knoepfle
Dharma and Penny aren’t the only family members who’ve gained delicious meals from Dave’s former professions. His time at Weber BBQ instilled a deep love of grilling, a skill he uses often. But he’s not the only chef in the home, “Becky is an amazing ‘from scratch’ cook [and] Ellie loves to bake and make her own gourmet breakfast everyday before school.” Ellie is very artistic and likes painting and drawing, and making crafts for her friend’s birthdays. Ellie loves music and going to concerts and is currently teaching herself to play the ukulele. Charlie is also quite musical. He takes guitar lessons weekly at Danville Music. And when he’s not plucking the guitar strings, he “loves to mountain bike with his family and friends. When he isn’t out riding, he is usually hanging out at Danville Bike talking about mountain biking, demoing new bikes, and making or watching mountain bike videos.” Coming from Chicago (where they have this thing called BAD weather!), this ability to be outside all the time is heaven for the Knoepfles!
Friendships 23 years long deserve to be celebrated yearly.
The Knoepfle family motto is “There are no long-distance friends – just friends” - this is something that they’ve instilled in their kids, and work very hard to maintain the meaningful friendships that they have built all over the world. There is no better example of this than the trips to Munich, Germany that the family takes to visit a couple that Dave and Becky met on their honeymoon… 23 years ago! The years that the Knoepfles aren’t traveling to Germany, their European “foreign-exchange family” travels here, “Last Labor Day we had two 24’ campers in our driveway filled with 10 Bavarians in the latest installment of the exchange!!”
Although they’ve adopted the A’s as their Bay Area team, the Chicago Cubs will always be their home team.
In another impressive display of tradition, the family travels back to Wisconsin every summer for an annual family reunion, which is now over 26 years old! They also make sure to visit their family and friends in Chicago during that Midwest trek.
Living at “the compound,” as the Knoepfles and their neighbors call their small development of five houses, has proven to be a dream location. Becky and Dave say, “it is not unusual to see us all out on weekend nights playing a game or having a driveway cocktail. We are truly blessed to have such a wonderful group of neighbors to keep watch over us and our kids.”
Do you know a neighbor who has a story to share? Nominate yourneighbor to be featured in one ofour upcoming issues! Contact us atasullivan@bestversionmedia.com.
