Longtime West Plains businesses change hands

Three businesses that enjoyed long-term stable ownership changed hands in 2016 on the West Plains.

Led by two generations of family guidance and some 60 years operating in Cheney, Boots Insurance sold to Buck and Affiliates; The Buckhorn Inn spent 35 years in the hands of one family and Cheney Glass has had a similar familiar face at the counter.

All told, they had a combined 125 years or so of operation by essentially three families with the hope of more similar longevity in the years ahead. Staff voted these moves as the No. 3 business story in 2016.

From Boots to Buck:

Long time Cheney insurance business owner John Boots said the time was right to retire. Tom Benzel from Airway Heights with Buck West and Affiliates will pick up where Boots left off.

For Boots, it will be a move on to other chores and lists. "There's lots of things that have been put off over the years," he said in Dec. 22 story.

"You keep thinking, 'Well I'm going to get to that, 'boy I should probably get that done,'" the 69-year-old Boots added. "Now I don't have any excuse."

Boots, who carried on the business established by his father in 1959, said that timing was perfect. His insurance license was set to run out on his birthday in late November.

Benzel's purchase includes Boots' line of Grange Insurance. "We felt it was a good fit, there was some crop insurance involved," Benzel said. "We have a pretty big book of crop insurance."

Buckhorn changes ownership:

A long chapter in the life of Noreen Pederson closed Nov. 30 when Airway Heights' venerable and iconic restaurant, The Buckhorn Inn, changed hands in a sale.

The matriarch of the family, who owned the eatery along U.S. Highway 2 since 1981 with her husband Gary, worked in every imaginable part of the establishment since 1974.

The couple was originally from Butte, Mont. and planned to return there when Gary Pederson retired from the service. But the Buckhorn came up for sale and they figured this was a great opportunity, son Matthew Pederson said.

When the Pedersons put down serious roots in 1972 and built their home, Airway Heights had a population of just 800 people.

"Highway 2 was a two-lane blacktop with a dirt gully down the middle," Matthew Pederson said. "We've had tremendous growth to a city that is now more than 10-times the population."

The restaurant has been a hub of the community that has hosted weddings, funerals and virtually every kind of organizational meeting.

"Dad and mom were involved in virtually every organization in Airway Heights, the Lions Club, the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars)," Matthew Pederson said. They sponsored sports teams and racers from nearby Spokane County Raceway.

Noreen Pederson has always taken a lot of pride in the history of the business and the role it has played in the community. "The business aspect came far secondary to the community aspect," Matthew Pederson said.

New local owners right fit for Cheney Glass:

Like Boots, Dennis Baumgarten needed to find time to check off a sizeable list of chores at home.

The only way he knew it could get done was shedding his day job as owner of Cheney Glass, a business he recently sold to fellow Cheney residents, James Powell and Abigail Vaughn.

Baumgarten and his wife, Theresa, have been married 40 years and had owned the business since May 1999. His wife's uncle ran the business before, since February 1985.

Baumgarten said he saw the new owners, Powell, a 1999 Cheney High School grad and Vaughn from the class of 2000, as the right people to continue where he left off. "Jimmy just fits right into that," he said of his effort to "Put Cheney first in everything we do."

Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.