Street talk: Carson City couple happy they came here to do business

Back on Mother's Day we visited with Nita Dobbins and during our visit she informed us that her husband Paul had passed away in December of last year.

Today we'll visit with Nita's daughter Kris, who will tell us more about Paul before we talk about other things on this first Father's Day of the new millennium and her first Father's Day without her dad.

"My dad Paul was a wonderful man and that will make this a very difficult Father's Day for us," said Kris, who is 57 and was born in Tacoma, Wash. "It's the first one for me without him. He was a family man. Very much into family. Our whole family will miss him ... We were very lucky to have him. There is an emptiness that wasn't there before. It'll be tough but we'll get through it."

Kris is married to Al Fiegehen and they just celebrated 32 years of marriage last Thursday. Al is 63 and was born in Detroit.

"We met in Phoenix after my family moved there and I followed a year later," said Kris. "Al was working for General Electric as an electrical engineer and was sent to Phoenix from Detroit. I was working in a bank in customer accounts and he was a customer. After awhile he asked me out. Our first date was at Pinnacle Peak restaurant. We married a year later."

They have three children. Anita and Chris live in Carson City and Eric lives in Tampa, Fla. They have two granddaughters.

Al, as you may know, recently bought the Ormsby House with longtime partner Don Lehr. They own Cubix here in town and Al and Kris own and operate Glen Eagles restaurant/bar together and we'll talk to them about all that after we hear from Al on this bright and sunny Father's Day in Carson City.

"My dad Les died a long time ago," said Al as we talked about our fathers. "He died in 1976 from a heart attack. He was a health person up to then. Dad was 73 when he died. He was a refrigerator serviceman all his life for the Frigidaire Division of General Motors. My mom (Georgina) was a school teacher. She lived to be 94 and died from old age."

Al has one brother Don, 68, who lives in San Diego. Kris has two brothers and a sister. Harry lives in Phoenix and John lives in Dublin, Calif.

"My sister Vicki lives here in Carson City," said Kris as she introduced me to her. "She's the general manager of Glen Eagles."

Kris and Al and Don moved to Carson City in 1978 from Orange, Calif. That's where they started Cubix, in 1975, called Industrial Micro Systems then.

"We came here because Carson City offered what we needed for our growing company," said Al. "We needed to expand and a new location was called for. We looked in California at many places but didn't find what we needed.

"We came here to look on a pure whim and we thought this would be a great place to live and work. We built Cubix from pure dirt. Today it's a 100,000-square-foot facility. We employ about 150 people. Cubix manufactures internet service computers that we sell worldwide."

THEY BOUGHT GLEN EAGLES FIRST

We were visiting at Glen Eagles and Kris was telling about how that purchase came about.

"We bought it in June of 1997 when it was a closed restaurant," she informed. "Al and I bought it ourselves so we and our buddies would have a place to hang out. We reopened it, renamed it and added banquet facilities to the restaurant and refurbished the bar area.

"We have a corporate meeting room, hold weddings here, have outside dining and have community functions here. We opened for business on Sept. 1, 1997."

How goes the battle?

"So far, so good as far as business is concerned," she answered with a smile. "We're a locals place. The kind of place where everybody knows everybody. Glen Eagles won the 'Best Taste Award' the last two years (1998-99) for the annual 'Taste of Downtown' event and maybe by the time this is in the paper we'll three-peat."

The "Taste of Downtown" took place Saturday in Carson City.

THEN THEY BOUGHT THE ORMSBY HOUSE

I asked Al why he and Don and families bought the Ormsby House. Didn't you guys just buy yourselves a giant headache?

"No, but it is work," replied a laughing Al. "We used to go there all the time and it was one of our favorite places in the 1980s. It was irritating to see it not open anymore. We decided to do something beside talk so we bought it."

They do have a goal and a plan for the Ormsby.

"Our goal was and is to put the Ormsby House back to being the premiere hotel casino in Carson City," continued Al. "We plan to, and will, build a first-class hotel. First and foremost a fine hotel. We need more convention space, good restaurants and a first-class casino and employees. It all plays together. I expect this will take some time but we'd rather do it right than rush it and get it wrong.

"We're in this for the long run. We're not going to do a patch job and then sell it. Our plan is to fix up and run the Ormsby House like it was meant to be."

They've already "reinstituted" the Sunday Champagne brunch in Dominique's Supper Club and plan to put a "full buffet" in shortly.

"So far the Sunday brunch has been a real success," said Al happily. "There is so much to do on our to-do list like putting in a new coffee shop and remodeling the rooms and lots more so we'll just take our time and get it done!"

I'll bet they will ....

LET'S TALK CHILI & FATHER'S DAY

I met Kris and Al at the Carson City Invitational Chili Cookoff last month as Al and I were judges at the event.

"Danny Murphy got me going judging chili," said Al as I told him Danny - who was chief judge at the CC cookoff - was the one who got me started too. "That was three years ago. I like judging chili. It's enjoyable and a lot of fun."

No judging for Kris but she has something else in mind.

"I like chili but I'm not into judging chili," she said cheerfully. "I would be a scorekeeper though, if they ever ask me."

The couple plan a "quiet family" day today "with some golf thrown in" and Kris has a present for Al.

"I'll let him win on Father's Day," she said with a laugh. "That's the least I can do."

For fun they like to go downhill skiing and go camping in their motor home "when we can."

"We're just fun people," added a smiling Kris. "And for more fun, we're going to Copenhagen, Denmark, this summer for our exchange-student son Nicolai Kuhl's wedding. He was our exchange-student 10 years ago for a year and he graduated from Carson High School. He still visits here every few years."

Son Chris and niece Allison are going with them and they also plan to travel to Paris, London and "maybe" Monte Carlo in Monaco.

"We'll be gone 15 days," noted Kris. "I can't wait. It'll be a great trip."

Before we parted company I told Al and Kris my summer schedule was open and if Chris or Allison didn't go, I was available ... They both laughed at that as they shook their heads no!

- Happy Father's Day everyone ....

ALAN ROGERS is a Nevada Appeal columnist. His message phone is 887-2430, ext. 402.