Published Wednesday, February 26, 2025
PROGRESS 2025 &
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Inside Progress 2025
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Local insurance company celebrates 100 years
In 1925, George Waples jumped into the insurance business. In the late 1940s, John Snapper became a partner in the company, which was then Waples and Snapper Insurance. Page 4
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Kulshan
75 years: Veterinary hospital cares for all creatures. Page 8
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Edaleen
50 years: Ed Brandsma turned the family farm into a farm-to-store business. Page 16
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NW Professional Services
50 years: Doug Broersma looks back on his career. Page 12
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Imhof Automotive
15 years: A legacy of service and dedication to classic car repair. Page 20
Recognizing milestones in local businesses
There's so many ways to shop these days, it's impressive when a business remains open a decade.
All the more amazing when businesses are open 15 years, 20 years, 25 years, 50 years, 75 years especially 100 or more years.
The theme of Progress 2025 is Milestones. This year we have recognized some of the area's businesses that have been open at least 10 years.
Truth is, there are more than a few, and we ultimately had to choose which ones we could write about. However, there are so many businesses that have reached a decade or more in existence we thought it right to give some of them a shoutout:
100 years: Muljat
In 1925, George Waples jumped into the insurance business. In the late 1940s, John Snapper became a partner in the company, which was then Waples and Snapper Insurance.
90 years: Farmers Equipment
Located in Lynden and also in Burlington, Farmers Equipment offer different agriculture, construction and harvesting equipment to meet your daily demands at work and at home.
75 years: Kulshan Vet
In the course of seeing cats and dogs and farm animals, Kulshan Veterinary Hospital has seen a bit of everything else as well in its 75 years.
50 years: NW Professional Service, Edaleen Dairy, Boice Raplee, Honcoop Gravel and Excavating
35 years: Daritech Inc.
25 years: Dekoster Excavating
20 years: Sorensen Truck Repair
15 years: Imhof Automotive
100-YEAR MILESTONE
Local insurance company celebrates 100 years
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By Racquel Muncy Staff Reporter
LYNDEN — In 1925, George Waples decided to jump into the insurance business and created a successful company.
In the late 1940s, John Snapper came back from World War II and became a partner in the company, which was then Waples and Snapper Insurance.
Not long after being made a partner, Waples sold the whole business to Snapper, who ran it until Bruce Shuler came along in the mid-’60s and was made a partner, creating Snapper and Shuler Insurance.
In October 1974, Paul Kenner came into the office as a trainee to get experience as he worked for Safeco Insurance.
“I ended up getting to like John Snapper and Bruce Shuler,” he said.
That first year was a busy one for what was still Snapper and Shuler Insurance, as it moved location to what is now Brown & Brown Insurance on Front Street.
Six months flew by for Kenner and before he knew it, Snapper and Shuler were offering him a position as a fellow partner in the company.
Kenner said contractually they had one year to get to know him, but they didn’t need all that long to get to know each other.
“We hit it off,” he said. “It was pretty cool.”
From that day forward, Snapper Shuler Kenner Insurance would become a well-known name around Lynden and the surrounding area.
Years down the road, Joel Kok bought out Noteboom Insurance Group and joined forces with Snapper, Shuler and Kenner.
“We were competitors, then we were partners and friends,” Kenner said.
The business continued to grow, with about 45 employees at its peak, according to Kenner. Some of these employees he said have worked for the busi-
See Muljat on next page
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Proudly ... Supporting
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ness for 40 years.
In 2011, Snapper Shuler Kenner Insurance was acquired by the national insurance brokerage Brown & Brown.
Kenner said he continued to run the business for three years for Brown & Brown and then stayed on for a few accounts. Over the years, he has slowly taken his foot out of the business and now consults when needed.
In 2021, Snapper Shuler Kenner Insurance officially changed over to the Brown & Brown name.
“Overall it has worked out,” Kenner said. “For me it was a healthy way of phasing out.”
Looking back at the years, he said his fondest memories come from office trips. The office would have a goal and if reached the entire office and their families would go on a trip. These included vacations to San Francisco, Las Vegas and Steamboat Springs in Colorado.
“We had some great memories and great trips,” he said. “We were really all family.” Above, volunteer day camp on Lummi Island in 2018. On opposite page, Brown & Brown Turkey Drive in 2012. Now the real estate business is under the Muljat Group Real Estate umbrella, although it remains its own separate business. Jerry Blankers said this decision was made to have name recognition. (Courtesy photos)
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In the mid-‘60s, shortly after Snapper joined the business, Snapper Shuler Insurance became serious about the real estate industry.
“We had a very successful real estate business on top of the insurance business,” Kenner said.
It did not take long for this side of the business to outgrow the building, so they built a building next door to the new insurance office.
“It was fun to build a big, new building,” Kenner said. “I was in my 30s back then, so I had lots of energy.”
Jerry Blankers went off to college in 1974 and said while he was gone around 1978 his dad sold off the cows and jumped into real estate.
The next year, Blankers got his own real estate license and began running the real estate firm with his father.
He said at the time the company had about six employees and the business was going strong.
In the mid-‘80s and ‘90s, Blankers said realtors wanted to be on the floor taking calls on a Monday morning because people would call in to see a home after reading the morning paper. The realtors would then research what homes the person may
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like and find a couple to see.
He said nowadays those looking for a home usually know exactly what they are looking for and often what is available.
“They’ve already done the research for you,” he said.
Back then the purchase agreement for a home was a singular page. Now Blankers said it is a 15-page agreement.
“There’s been a lot of changes,” he said.
In 2011, when Kenner sold the insurance side of the business, Blankers was able to purchase the real estate side for a nominal fee, as Brown & Brown was not interested.
Now the real estate business is under the Muljat Group Real Estate umbrella, although it remains its own separate business. Blankers said this decision was made to have name recognition.
Despite all the changes, Blankers said it blows him away that the business has been around for so long and he has enjoyed every minute of it. His favorite part is the relationships he has made.
“My heart is for people,” he said. “Every transaction is unique and you get to meet so many different people.”
-- Contact Racquel Muncy at racquel@ lyndentribune.com.
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75-YEAR MILESTONE
Kulshan Veterinary Hospital cares for all creatures
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Clockwise from above: Dr. David Sauter and Olivia Bosscher, lead large animal assistant, with horses; Lab tech Ruth DeWaard looking in microscope; Licensed Veterinary Technician Laura Nelson with handful of puppies; Dr. Mike Anderson with a llama checking out his vet box; and Dr. Kevin Erickson with a goat. (Courtesy photos)
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Longtime business celebrates 75 years
By Elisa Claassen For the Tribune
LYNDEN — In the course of seeing cats and dogs and farm animals, Kulshan Veterinary Hospital has seen a bit of everything else as well in its 75 years.
“Through the years we have seen cows, horses, llamas, alpacas, pigs, sheep, goats, camels, turkeys, chickens, ostriches, emus, dogs, cats, geckos, rabbits, mice, rats, guinea pigs, turtles, snakes, lizards, tigers, bears, sugar gliders, bearded dragons, pigeons, buffalo, deer, eagles, owls, raccoons, opossums, iguanas and others,” Dr. Kevin Erickson said of the large veterinary hospital in north Whatcom County.
Erickson explained that working with animals has a way of bringing people together.
“It’s hard to have airs when working with animals because they bring reality to every situation,” Erickson said. “They have no qualms about making inappropriate sounds, sticking their noses in inappropriate spots. Working in veterinary medicine requires a good sense of humor – and the ability to roll with whatever the job throws at you … some days literally.”
Looking back
At one time, the clinic was at 1210 Front St., Lynden. Drive along Front Street now, there’s a multi-family home where the clinic once was. It is surrounded by homes. It served as both a veterinary clinic and a home to the doctors.
An older news clip talks of doctors Ernest and Virginia Streets purchasing the veterinary practice and hospital of Dr. G.K. Garlick:
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“The two new Lynden veterinarians have had wide experience in the care and Dr. Perry
See Kulshan on next page
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treatment of small pets and dairy animals. Both are graduates of the Washington State College School of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Virginia Streets.”
They divided up the work: James Ernest, known as Ernie, handled the large animal work such as dairy animals. Virginia, known as Ginny, focused on the small animals. She was one of the first 10 women to graduate from the veterinary school at Washington State College (now University). She was the first woman to practice veterinary medicine in Washington State.
The current Kulshan ownership group consists of doctors Kevin Erickson, Perry Stanfield and Brad Stirling. All are working veterinarians. Past owners in
the group include Vern Pedersen, Dave Hardman, Gordon Plotts, Gale DeJong, Mike Anderson, Dorrie Jordan and David Sauter. Erickson spends about half of his time as a doctor, the other half as practice managing partner. He is the third longest team member at Kulshan. He started in 1990, Stanfield in 1987, Stirling in 2020.
Dr. Erickson’s story
“I grew up on a dairy farm in Ferndale,” Erickson said. “I decided in about the seventh grade that I wanted to be a veterinarian.
"Growing up on a farm, I always enjoyed working with animals, and I loved the challenges of veterinary medicine. It’s like a puzzle –putting all of the pieces together to determine
what’s wrong with them – and then determining what’s wrong with them and how to make them better. I think that’s one of the reasons why I still really enjoy my career choice – no two days are the same. There is always some challenge and certainly never a dull moment.
Veterinary medicine is a challenging career, but those challenging times are balanced with the rewards of being able to care for animals in need. The appreciation that clients have when you’ve helped out their pets or animals is also a big bonus."
“You always appreciate it when someone fixes something for you, but when you make a sick member of their family better, that garners a different level of appreciation and leads
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Family owned and operated amily
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to a special relationship. With many pets, we are there for the joy of their very first visit to the tears of their last. That’s one thing that hasn’t changed over the years. We value the trust our clients put in us and don’t take it lightly.”
Erickson graduated from Ferndale High School in 1984, attended Washington State University, graduated from veterinary school in 1990. He used to work on both the large and small animals but said with the vast amount of information becoming available to veterinarians now makes it challenging to be as adept with both.
“My love for surgery was probably the biggest deciding factor in me moving strictly to the small animal realm,” he said.
Changes over the years
Erickson talked about changes in technology, accreditation, even how clients view the animals that become Kulshan’s patients.
“One of the biggest changes has been the move of dogs and cats from outdoor pets to being cherished members of the family,” Erickson said. “Families have demanded a higher level of veterinary care.”
Part of that care is working with other hospitals to have specialists such as those versed in oncology.
When the acceptance to the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) was given in 1979, it meant Kulshan had met the association’s high standards for facilities, equipment and related medical services, Erickson said. At that time, only 17 AAHA member hospitals or clinics existed in Washington State.
Erickson said animal medical practices differ in ways from that for humans: Unlike human hospitals, there are very few rules or regulations that govern veterinary clinics or hospitals and standards of care. AAHA certification is a prestigious recognition that a veterinary hospital has met the highest standards of care and operational excellence. This process involves more than 900 stringent standards covering patient care,
“Working with a great group of people that are all committed to helping animals keeps the job fun,” Erickson said. “If any of us had to do it on our own, we wouldn’t last long. Having team members to prop you up after a tough day or a hard euthanasia makes all the difference in the world.”
One of the special people Erickson met at Kulshan was his now-wife. Dr. Robin Eggenberger joined the practice in 1991. Two years later, they married. They now have three sons as well as their own array
of animals. While Erickson talked about the large variety of animal types to come through to be treated, there are still more he wouldn’t mind seeing and treating.
“I’m hoping to one day officially see a lion, because in the course I’ve my career I’ve seen a tiger and a bear,” Erickson said. “One species to go and I can say I’ve seen lions and tigers and bears.”
Moving forward
Veterinary medicine is constantly changing, Erickson said.
“That means we are always looking for new and better ways to provide veterinary care,” he said.
Kulshan is adding another large animal doctor in May, Dr. Isabelle Mitchell. One or two more small animal doctors may join the team by year’s end. A board-certified oncologist is on-site at the Ferndale facility beginning in February 2025.
“The awesome part about our team approach is that each new member brings something new, and different, to the team, helping us grow and teaching us new ways to serve clients and patients better,” Erickson said.
More about Kulshan Veterinary Hospital at kulshanvet.com. Kulshan has locations in Lynden and in Ferndale.
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50-YEAR MILESTONE
NW Professional Services is a home grown business
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Doug Broersma looks back on 50 years in the cleaning business
By Racquel Muncy Staff Reporter
LYNDEN — Doug Broersma grew up in Lynden, helping his grandfather who was a janitor at the Third Christian Reformed Church. It was here he learned how to strip and wax floors and the satisfaction that comes with making something look nice and new again.
“I realized I really loved cleaning,” he said. “My superpower is I bring love to things that feel unloved.”
By the time 1974, his junior year at Lynden Christian High School, rolled around, businesses had begun to ask him to do their floors.
His first contract was with the Everson Thriftway. Once he began doing their floors, he said other busi-
ness owners noticed and began to call.
“It was a huge feeling of satisfaction,” he said.
With new contracts came a need for more cleaning equipment. This equipment was pricey, which led Broersma to need to go out and find more business.
In this first year he got his business license and employed a couple of fellow students.
Early on he was awarded the contract for cleaning Continental Telephone Corporation buildings for all of Whatcom County.
“That was one of my biggest accounts,” he said of the time. “When I wasn’t in school I was cleaning something.”
Broersma said he was taught window washing by Dale Snapper, who also
sold him some equipment. This furthered his professional repertoire.
His senior year the business began to ramp up and he would meet with janitorial reps at school during a study hall period.
“The school had no idea,” he said. “It worked really well for me to have the school as an office.”
When he bought his first work van the school found out and began asking him to transport students to events, such as debate tournaments or transporting instruments for a band concert.
After finishing jobs at night, he would empty the back of the van of cleaning supplies and equipment and put in a few bean bag chairs.
“That became a regular thing,” he said. “That was
normal life back then.”
By the time Broersma graduated from Lynden Christian, he had full-time work.
In 1976, he got his pilot’s license and flying became a passion. Serendipitously, he also sang in a men’s choir with Hank Jansen, owner of Lynden Transfer.
Around 1979 Jansen was looking for someone to manage the airport, which ultimately meant mowing the grass. In return for the work, Broersma was given a hangar for his business to work out of.
“That’s when things really took off,” he said. “Pun not intended.”
The location allowed him to blend his two passions of flying and cleaning.
The business continued to grow and before he knew
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it he had several employees, a bookkeeper and an office manager.
In need of more space and wanting to spend less time mowing, Broersma moved to Birch Bay Lynden Road and built a building where the business has resided ever since.
The new space also afforded him a retail space to sell cleaning and other janitorial supplies.
“I couldn’t have them coming to an airplane hangar,” he said of retail customers.
After decades of doing both technical cleaning and janitorial work, Broersma said he made the difficult decision to step away from the janitorial side and diversify the technical and specialty cleaning.
Celebrating
Broersma said they would get busy in the summer and then have no work in the winter, so he wanted to become proficient in all technical cleaning, from furnaces and carpets to windows and pressure washing.
Today’s services also include biohazard cleanup, smoke and fire damage restoration, water damage restoration, mold remediation and a variety of other interior and exterior services.
Looking back he said he is pleased he made the decision to diversify his offerings. He said he finds the variety of work comes with its own challenges and
See Broersma on next page
“A lot of companies choose one thing,” he said of specializing. “I needed something else to keep me and my employees busy.”
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brings more satisfaction because of it.
The company may have started as largely janitorial but is now over 50% damage restoration, he said.
Over the years, Northwest Professional Services has grown to serve Whatcom and Skagit counties and the San Juan Islands. He said he particularly likes jobs on the islands because it means he gets to fly his plane.
“That’s really fun for me,” he said.
The business has grown to 17 employees and 20 work vehicles.
Broersma said he prides his business on the amount of repeat customers it has. Over the years he has had about 7,000 clients. In the past five years he said 5,000 of them have been repeat customers. Some of his customers have stuck with him since day one, all the way back in 1974.
“To me, that’s my market,” he said of keeping his customers.
He said this shows the quality of his work, as well as the customer service skills of himself and his team.
Looking to the next 50 years he said he looks forward to continuing to see his company flourish and have steady growth. While he plans on working as long as he possibly can, he said he looks forward to transitioning out of the truck and into a sales and training role.
Broersma said he also looks forward to continuing being a part of the Lynden community. He started the Lynden Music Festival with his wife as a way to give back and support the community.
“Our heart is in Lynden,” he said.
More information about Northwest Professional Services can be found at npsclean.com.
-- Contact Racquel Muncy at racquel@lyndentribune.com.
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Lynden Service Center strives for repeat customers with their prompt, friendly, professional services. Owners Jim Meenk and Rob Meyer keep the most advanced diagnostic equipment available in their facility. Their team is ASE certified and able to work on any issues you may have with your vehicles.
Jim and Rob would also like to extend their services to new members of our community.
You'll be more than satisfied when you bring your vehicle in for your factory recommended services.
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50-YEAR MILESTONE
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By Luke Seymour For the Tribune
LYNDEN — Although milk can have a relatively short shelf life, Ed and Aileen Brandsma have built a business on dairy to last a lifetime.
The Brandsmas are the founders of Edaleen Dairy, one of Whatcom County’s most popular and long lasting family farms that has produced milk and milk-based products since 1975. This year, the company will celebrate its 50th anniversary in business with the company having expanded to five new retail store locations throughout Whatcom County over the past 15 years.
According to Aileen Brandsma, the idea for the company branched off from her father, Maurice Honcoop Jr.’s dairy farm.
“He had a milk store in Lynden at the time but was getting the milk from Mount Vernon,” Aileen said. “Ed and I got to talking together about starting our own business. We had just purchased the farm and were shipping it to Darigold. So off we went putting our names together and Edaleen Dairy started. We built a plant and got a good banker and found customers for our milk with 100 cows.”
According to the Edaleen Dairy website, the business began when Ed decided to “take a leap of faith” and turn their family farm into a farm-to-store business. The couple then built a dairy and processing plant next to their farm so that they could produce milk and dairy products enmasse. After that, they established a dairy store in front of the processing plant on Guide Meridian Road in Lynden.
Word eventually got out about the new business around both Whatcom County and even in some of the lower parts of British Columbia.
Soon, the Brandsmas saw their dairy
store boom with popularity, leading the couple to add another item to their increasingly diverse menu of dairy products: ice cream.
“Things really started to pick up when the company added some of the ice cream options,” Edaleen Manager Mitch Moorlag said. “We started out with just plain fluid milk, then we added chocolate milk to the menu, then half-and-half whipping cream. Then, I don’t know the exact year, but it was sometime in the mid- to late-‘80s that they decided to start selling ice cream and that’s when that part of the company really started to change and grow into what it is today.”
Moorlag, who began working at Edaleen in 1995, will pass a milestone of his own this year with his 30th year at Edaleen.
Beginning his tenor at Edaleen by committing to various tasks such as bottling, milking cows and working in distribution, Moorlag slowly climbed the ranks of the company, eventually achieving the role of general manager.
Moorlag said that one of Edaleen’s qualities that has kept him committed to the company for 30 years was the people he had the chance to work with.
“Some of these people you’re with more than your family most of the time,” Moorlag said. “It’s important that you get along well with the people you work with, and every day is different. It’s always exciting to get up and have the opportunity to work with such great folks. The fact that we deal with such a diverse range of issues, too, whether it be employee issues, customer issues or marketing issues, it’s always something new and different, which makes the work exciting.”
According to their website, edaleen dairy.com, Edaleen Dairy now sells more
See Edaleen
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Edaleen Dairy has developed a county-wide reputation for its highquality locally sourced dairy products. At left are Ed and Aileen Brandsma. The Brandsmas are the founders of Edaleen Dairy, one of Whatcom County’s most popular and long lasting family farms that has produced milk and milkbased products since 1975. (Luke Seymour for the Tribune)
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than 40 different flavors of ice cream, from traditional flavors as chocolate chip and vanilla to more exotic flavors such as bubblegum, root beer and three-nut coconut. The website also claimed that the company uses a years-old recipe to make the ice cream with their own milk.
Moorlag explained that the product has now become so popular that the company even sells ice cream bases to other companies.
“We’re making our own finished ice cream but we’re also making some ice cream base mixes that are getting sold down to the greater Seattle area that are then using our ice cream base mix to make their product.”
After many decades, the Edaleen Dairy Company has only grown in size, with the operation now presiding over 1,200 cows, 100 employees and five store locations in Whatcom County.
Although the Brandsmas said maintaining the growth of their business while maintaining a relationship wasn’t always easy, they attribute their faith in both each other and a higher power to their success in love and work.
“It was difficult to keep the farm and plant going, but different people and the Lord got us through it,” Aileen Brandsma
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Three great locations to serve your needs!
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Edaleen Dairy now sells more than 40 different flavors of ice cream, from traditional flavors as chocolate chip and vanilla to more exotic flavors such as bubblegum, root beer and three-nut coconut. The website also claimed that the company uses a yearsold recipe to make the ice cream with their own milk. (Luke Seymour for the Tribune)
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said. “We really did not know all the changes we had to make to produce, process and sell the product. One thing that came out of our business was we sure had to learn to work together and talk all the issues out. It brought us closer together. We always hoped it would last, but we lived one day at a time. I hoped it would work because now it is a fifth-generation dairy farm, started by my grandpa.”
Although neither Moorlag nor the company have made any concrete plans for an anniversary celebration, one is in the works and will be announced in due time.
Moorlag also said that much of Edaleen’s longevity is due to the trust that has been built between the company and its customers over the past 50 years.
“When it comes to your milk and even your ice cream, I think people really want to know where that’s coming from,” Moorlag said. “Last time I checked, the milk is pretty fresh since it’s coming from right here in Whatcom County. We milk our own cows, then the milk comes over here, we process it and turn it into either fluid milk, chocolate milk or ice cream, then it goes to our stores. That’s pretty fresh.
“It’s also the community we’ve built over time that’s so important to this company,” Moorlag said. “In times like these, we have to be there for each other, we have to support each other and that’s what this community does. People have a desire to buy locally and form that trust with their providers and I think Whatcom County is especially attuned to that.”
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By Merrick Parnell For the Tribune
In 2011, Don Imhof incorporated and obtained a business license for Imhof Automotive, which has been operating in Ferndale ever since.
Imhof’s journey began at the age of 16 when he washed cars and assisted shop technicians. This early experience evolved into a 45-year career in the automotive industry.
“I always figured I would be in management or a shop owner by the time I retired.
I’ve always worked on vehicles as
alongside my regular, steady
Imhof said.
Imhof is the owner and
“I perform almost all roles in my shop: service
and invoicing. My wife handles all the
duties associated with the business,” Imhof said.
Throughout its history, Imhof Automotive has served all of Whatcom County and even developed a customer base in Skagit and Snohomish counties. For Imhof,
See Imhof on next page
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Throughout its history, Imhof Automotive has served all of Whatcom County and even developed a customer base in Skagit and Snohomish counties.
Owner Don Imhof’s journey began at the age of 16 when he washed cars and assisted shop technicians. (Courtesy photo)
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working in Whatcom County is an opportunity to continue a rich family legacy that dates back to the 1900s.
“My family has lived in Ferndale since 1912,” Imhof said. “This is where I grew up. I believe I’ve established a good reputation in this county. I enjoy serving my community. Although I don’t make as much money as I did working for someone else, I enjoy the freedom to set my own work hours as a shop owner. It allows me to serve my customers more personally and be more available for my family.”
Despite the many changes in the automotive industry, Imhof remains steadfast as it provides excellent service to the community, county and beyond.
Imhof Automotive is at 2869 W 63rd Lane, Ferndale. More on Facebook: Imhof Automotive.
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