Sisters man has fulfilled a dream

For the past eight years, Rich Barrell has greeted newcomers to Sisters Country at Sno-Cap Mini Storage. Many of those folks were fulfilling a dream by moving here. And all that time, Rich and his wife, Nancy, were working on a dream of their own.

Rich always wanted to live in a cabin in the woods, and he and Nancy have been working on that project on land they own in Sunriver for years.

"I just turned 67 on the 28th," Rich said. "We've paid for our cabin. We finished it and paid for it in August. It's ours. My wife said, 'You're done - you don't need to work no more.'"

So Rich retired from his live-in gig at the storage facility. Nancy, who filled in for him part-time while he worked on the cabin, "has retired from working Saturdays" (though she still works her regular job at Mid-Oregon Credit Union).

While the job at Sno-Cap Mini Storage was always a means to an end, The Barrells really enjoyed working with the tenants there. They got to meet people as they started their new lives in Sisters - moving into the community and storing their stuff. They enjoyed telling people all about Sisters Country.

And Rich cannot say enough about the owners of the facility, John and Peggy Tehan.

"I've had a lot of employers in my life," Rich said. "It was a real pleasure to have the best employers be the last people you worked for. I don't think I could have worked for better people than those two. They're absolutely fantastic people."

Rich served in the U.S. Navy and has worked as a contractor, but he spent most of his working life as a truck driver. When he quit that line of work, he didn't get off the road. He and Nancy spent years touring the country in an RV. They were always drawn to Sisters, where Rich had come as a kid, swimming in Suttle Lake.

"I always said, 'one of these days, I'd like to live in the little town of Sisters," he recalled. "Of course it's grown a bit since then."

Retiring doesn't mean his work is done. There's still a list of to-dos on the cabin. Rich says he's got two years to fill out that punch list, then he and Nancy will hit the road again, part-time - this time to explore the Northwest.

In the meantime, Rich will enjoy working in his shop and will continue to come to Sisters on Tuesdays.

"We're just going to kind of enjoy life," he says.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.

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