Huchel new deputy clerk in Pateros

Marsha Huchel grew up in Snohomish and lived there most of her life, but her connections with the Quad City area go way back.

Her dad and mom were enthusiastic campers and hunters and loved to fish, Marsha said, and they brought the kids over to Okanogan County on a regular basis.

"We used to stay up at Alta Lake before it was a state park," Huchel said. When she grew up and got married Huchel and her husband would bring their kids over to go hunting and fishing, and camped out at the Bridgeport park, and kept coming over after their kids were grown. Huchel decided to go the whole way and moved here; she has been hired as the deputy clerk in Pateros. She replaces Joey Bruno, who took a job with Chelan Fruit.

Huchel said one of her uncles moved over to Alta Lake, then another uncle moved to Bridgeport, and then her dad made the move to Pateros after the death of her mom. Her brother Rich made plans to move to the Quad City area after he retired, and Marsha and her husband bought a house in Bridgeport with the intention of retiring there.

"I tell everybody I lived in Snohomish all my life, but my heart has been here," she said.

But her husband was killed in a work-related accident, Huchel said, and her dad had already moved east, along with two of her uncles, and - well, "I just decided it was time to make a change."

So she moved to the summer place in Bridgeport. "I love it. I love Bridgeport." Pretty much everybody in Bridgeport stops to talk, she's met tons of people and everyone is friendly. She got a job at the Okanogan County Sheriff's Office, "then this job (in Pateros) opened up and I jumped at the opportunity to come here," she said.

She had lots of experience in the public sector; for 13 years she worked for the Washington Department of Corrections, and by the time she left she was helping supervise the community support staff in her office, she said. She loved the job and her coworkers, "but I couldn't bring it all with me, so I had to say goodbye." Prior to that she worked for a decade for a company that published three weekly newspapers and a shopper, as well as a number of specialty publications. "I did everything at that newspaper except sales," she said. She took pictures, she did typesetting, wrote some stories, "I repaired newspaper boxes, I did it all." Her last job there was supervising the circulation department, she said.

Marsha said she's looking forward to her new job. "I look forward to being here for a good long time." She's beginning to meet people, even after only being on the job a few days. "People are friendly and they are willing to talk to you." That's part of the fun; she likes people and meeting people, she said.