Family Roots Publishing & Meitzler Family Move Update

Mt. Rainier photo taken from the Footshills Trail. The Trail runs just a few hundred yards from our home in Orting.
Mt. Rainier photo taken from the Footshills Trail. The Trail runs just a few hundred yards from our home in Orting.

Last spring we (the Meitzlers) made the decision to move home to Orting, Washington. As of July, we had been gone for 20 years, as it was in July of 1994 that we left Washington State and went on the road in our 36 ft. Safari motorcoach. We didn’t come off the road until 2000, although we did take the motorhome out to conferences up through 2005. When we did settle down, it was in Bountiful, Utah, where we have lived until now.

We started packing up both our home, and the business – running books sales to reduce selected inventory in May. We took one truck load of household items to Washington in early June. That load went into storage. On July 2, we left Bountiful with 2 trucks (with trailers) loaded with both books and household goods, as well as an SUV towing a trailer, arriving in Orting the following day. We unloaded the rigs over the holiday weekend, part going into our house, part into the business building, and part to storage. We had the opportunity to celebrate Independence Day in Orting, which is quite a spectacular event! There doesn’t seem to be any ordinances dealing with fireworks in Orting, and if there are, they are totally ignored. I’ll admit to enjoying the evening to the fullest extent, getting to know a lot of my new neighbors in the process. Over the next month, our family has spent some enjoyable walks and bicycle rides on the Foothills Trail, which runs just a few hundred yards from our home. Everyone in the family has bikes, so we can ride the Trail whenever we have the time.

During the month of July we got the FRPC business up and running in the old Heritage Quest Press building in Orting. My brother, Steve, owns the building, and he made space for us to set up our data entry, sales, and stockroom in the same area where we worked from 1988 to 1993.

About a week ago, Patty and I left Orting, leaving Dale and Tara to mind the store, and drove back to Bountiful. Arriving here, we immediately loaded a truck and trailer with both household and business goods for a return to Orting. We then joined our son, Lee, in going to work on getting the house ready to sell. After essentially running a business out of our basement here since 2008, the place needed new carpet, and various other upgrades that we’ve been putting off since we bought the place. Now someone else will get all these wonderful upgrades that we talked about doing since we moved in. Oh well, this seems to be what I do with every home we’ve owned over the years…

Patty and I have also been working on the websites, and the Salt Lake Christmas Tour while here. Patty is currently in the process of preparing the 2014 Christmas tour receipts and invoices, which we will mail by August 25 or 25. As of this moment, we have 74 attendees preregistered for the Christmas Tour, with just a few spaces left for the 2014 Tour. If you’re interested in coming, you might want to sign up asap!

We plan to leave our Utah place in the hands of the real estate folks and head for Orting again on September 3 or 4 – then attempt to return to a “normal” life.

I want to thank our many friends and FRPC customers who have continued to support us with your thoughts and prayers, as well as purchases, during this EXTREMELY stressful period in our lives. We can see the finish line, and just need to cross over. Just a few more days…

About Leland Meitzler

Leland K. Meitzler founded Heritage Quest in 1985, and has worked as Managing Editor of both Heritage Quest Magazine and The Genealogical Helper. He currently operates Family Roots Publishing Company (www.FamilyRootsPublishing.com), writes daily at GenealogyBlog.com, writes the weekly Genealogy Newsline, conducts the annual Salt Lake Christmas Tour to the Family History Library, and speaks nationally, having given over 2000 lectures since 1983.

4 Replies to “Family Roots Publishing & Meitzler Family Move Update”

  1. Congragulations on your move to Orting, WA. I lived in Seattle for several years many years ago and recall it as my most favorite place. You will love it there, I know.

    Sincerely-
    Elizabeth McCapes Livingston
    Merced, CA

  2. Hi Leland and Patty,
    I used to be one of your volunteers in Orting, while my husband and I lived in Renton. You used a picture of us sitting at a table during an open house you had on some of your letterhead stationary. We moved east as you did only we moved to Idaho. Still interested in and working on my genealogy. We were a charter life member of the south King County Genealogy Society. Hope being back in Orting is a Happy one for you. Will you have a research library like you used to have?
    sincerely,
    Jackie Cadle

  3. Jackie,
    It’s good to hear from you – and thanks for your help in Orting!
    The library we started in Orting was moved to Sumner, just a few miles away, and is still operating very successfully as the Heritage Quest Research Library. I will be supporting their efforts there.
    See: http://hqrl.com/
    I appreciate the note.
    Leland

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Time limit is exhausted. Please reload the CAPTCHA.