Parent Profile

PARENT PROFILE Meet the Tendlers!

Jereme and Alicia have three boys, Myles (7), Tristan (6) and Rhett (15 months). This family of five just relocated to Owensboro and from Michigan and have fallen in love with our city. Learn about their sweet family and their impression of our beloved hometown.

WHERE ARE YOU ORIGINALLY FROM AND WHEN DID YOU ALL OFFICIALLY MAKE OWENSBORO HOME?

We are a very diverse and well-travelled family. Jereme is from a farm in Viceroy, Saskatchewan, Canada. Alicia is from Dearborn Heights, Michigan. We were married in Riviera Maya, Mexico. Myles was born in Coventry, England; Tristan was born is Budapest, Hungary; and Rhett made it back from Romania just in time to be born in Dearborn, Michigan.

We officially made Owensboro our new home in August of 2022 for the beginning of the school year.

WHAT BROUGHT YOU ALL TO OWENSBORO?

Jereme received a job working for APiGroup, which is the largest Fire and Life Safety Company in the world. Premier Fire, one of the many sister companies under API has one of its five locations in Owensboro.

WHY OWENSBORO?

With API having so many companies across North America, we were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to choose where to live. The first decision was if we were going to live in Canada or the US. We weighed out every option possible from weather, crime, affordability, way of life etc. After figuring out we were going to live in the States, we had to decide where. Once again, we found ourselves weighing out all the options. We knew we didn’t want to live in the southern states where the summers are 120 degrees and you’re sweating profusely for months, yet we didn’t want to live in the northern states where half the year is in the freezing winters. Yet we still wanted four seasons. We figured we would like to be in the middle of the country.

Being able to do a lot of traveling through our years together we lived in many places from massive cities such as London, New York City, and Tulsa to small towns such Bad Tolz, Germany. Therefore, we knew we didn’t want the big city life but needed a town that wasn’t too small and there were still things for a family to experience and have lifelong memories. After talking with many different people, we found a little, but not so little, place called Owensboro. It has four seasons. It has an airport to get wherever you choose to go. It’s a friendly and welcoming place but most of all it’s a great place to raise a family and that is where we are in life.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PART ABOUT OUR TOWN?

Everyone has been so very nice and generous from the first day we arrived. Our neighbors have been great and more than helpful and kind. The boys played on a baseball team and now a hockey team where the parents and children have been nothing but welcoming and inclusive. We enjoy that it takes less than 20 minutes to get anywhere and there are so many parks and activities for families to get involved with. It also seems to have a lot of culture!

WHAT’S THE BIGGEST SURPRISE ABOUT OWENSBORO AND/OR KENTUCKY?

We knew Owensboro was a good location but didn’t realize how good of a hub it really is. We are in the center of some amazing cities that are very easy to access. With quick flights going to Nashville and St. Louis every day, Louisville, Evansville, and Kentucky Lake all within a quick drive. There is really nothing a person can’t see or do here.

WHAT IS IT LIKE RELOCATING YOUR FAMILY TO ANOTHER STATE? ANY FAMILY NEARBY?

Relocating is a common theme within our family. Jereme’s previous line of work had us on the road in a different location nearly every year. Let’s just say our oldest son had travelled to 16 different countries before the age of 4. It was funny, we were in Michigan waiting for his green card approval and our boys were wondering when we were moving to a new place because they are so used to moving after a year. Now we and them are excited to have found our hopefully forever city and a place to plant our roots.

We do not have any family nearby. Jereme’s closest family members are over a 24-hour drive away up in Saskatchewan and Alicia’s nearest family is up in Michigan. Having no family is nothing new for us, we tend to find good groups of friends that accept our crazy family, and our parents usually find themselves to us once a year which is always nice.

HOW DID YOU HELP YOUR KIDS ADJUST TO THE MOVE?

The kids are very adaptable, they do only speak English, but they did attend school in Hungary and Romania with no English being spoken. They really know nothing different than being thrown into nonconventional situations and finding their way, which we hope becomes a lifelong skill. It helped making some close friends along our journey that have become lifelong friends that are more like family. We are excited to make some long-lasting relationships here too! OP

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