Chris Touhey’s boomerang home
From staff reports
One of Michigan’s most acute problems during the economic downturn over the past couple decades has been the state’s “brain drain” — the bleeding of young talent and native youth, who’ve left for greener pastures — Chicago, New York, California.
It’s also a problem for Leelanau County, this tourist paradise whose year-round population grows older each year. Here in Glen Arbor, the average age, according to the 2010 census, is 63. Jobs in this seasonal economy are plentiful — at least during the summer and fall — but buying or renting a home, or land, is nearly impossible for a middle-class millennial who wants to stay in Glen Arbor, or return to the nest after testing the wider waters.
Meet Chris Touhey and his wife Laura, both 34 and exceptions to this rule. Chris grew up near Glen Arbor (his family lived for a time in a farmhouse near Port Oneida that’s now in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore), left for school in Ann Arbor then spent a decade in sunny southern California. He and Laura moved this past January into a one-bedroom home that he built near the old Dickinson Gallery on south shore of Little Glen Lake. Their daughter Finley was born in February. Touhey, an architect by trade, works for a construction firm that, as luck would have it, is doing a project for the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians in nearby Peshawbestown.
Glen Arbor Sun: Why did you and your wife return “home” to Glen Arbor/Empire after leaving the area? And where had you been?
Chris Touhey: Short answer: quality of the life. Long answer: We had been living in Southern California for the last 10 years and had been considering a move back to Leelanau County for some time. After meeting at the University of Michigan when we were 19, Glen Arbor has been a place that’s always felt like “home” — even for Laura who is originally from the D.C. area. Over the last three years our life priorities had started to evolve. Getting pregnant with our daughter Finley, who was born in February, was the catalyst for finally moving. This was such an incredible place to grow up and we really wanted that for her. Family is huge too. Finley is the first grandchild for my mom, Pam Diotte, and we are also closer my sister Megan, who lives and works for University of Michigan (U of M) in Ann Arbor.
Sun: What did you miss most about this area while you were away?
Touhey: The seasons, the lakes, the trees, the Sleeping Bear National Park, our friends and family — quite a bit! San Diego (where we moved from) was great. We loved it there, but I have been saying for years that from May through October there is no place I would rather be than in Leelanau County. People still think we’re crazy when they hear that we moved here in January and from San Diego.
Sun: Did you have any second thoughts about returning here? What did you have to give up to move here?
Touhey: Moving back was both a tough and an easy decision for us. We knew that our quality of life would be much better here — less traffic, less congestion, lower cost of living, proximity to family and friends. But figuring out how we were going to make a living — that was really a challenge. We both gave up great jobs to move here. I worked for a commercial construction management company and Laura was teaching art at a children’s museum in San Diego.
Sun: What kind of impact do you think you’ve been able to have, as young people, on the community?
Touhey: Honestly, being a part of this community again was one of the things we were most excited about when we decided to move back. I want to contribute to the community that supported me so much when I was younger. I want to see the Glen Arbor area continue to grow and encourage the next generation of families and business to develop. I spent 11 years working in the architecture and construction industry in Southern California, so I am hoping to apply that experience and those skills here. Right now I am a project manager with PCL Construction, based out of Minneapolis, but working locally in Leelanau. I graduated from U of M with a degree in architecture; so I’ve been able to do some small home design and renovations projects on the side as well.
Laura was a teacher in California. She also worked as a preschool director at a YMCA in San Diego. Currently, she is helping a local business in Glen Arbor with social media marketing and graphic design. Some day she would like to teach again and get more involved in the local community and arts centers.
Sun: What could Glen Arbor, and Leelanau County in general, do to attract more talented young people back to this area?
Touhey: That’s a great question. A lack of job opportunities was the reason we stayed away so long. Like many people “up north”, most of our friends who have moved back have had to create their own jobs as small business owners. Seeing them be successful gave us confidence that, with some hard work, eventually we could figure it out too. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. I also believe that Traverse City, with its continued growth and opportunities, only strengthens the surrounding areas like Glen Arbor and Empire.
Sun: Anything else you’d like to add about being millennials who “boomeranged” back to your native community?
Touhey: We are just excited to be back. I was really close to Kenna (Semple) McDonald, Matt Wiesen, Peter Fisher and TJ Shimek during high school; we all graduated together from Glen Lake. They have been incredibly supportive since we moved back. We see them regularly and all of our kids hang out — it’s pretty amazing. We hope that others take the leap of faith too and “boomerang” back to Leelanau County!
