I: Illinois Influence

Okay, this is so not a Rod Blagojevic post. I'm really just going for bonus points by using an extra letter I word. But I have met quite a few people who moved to Fort Collins from Illinois. I see them out and about in their Cubs, Sox, and Bears hats, enjoying Colorado's clear blue skies and lack of debilitating midwest humidity.

Many came here as a result of a connection with Woodward, Inc. (fka Woodward Governor Co.), an engine control manufacturer that started in Rockford, Illinois, way back in 1870 and first opened shop in Fort Collins in 1955. This was the situation with my husband's family, and I for one am quite glad they brought him to Fort Collins when he was eleven. Here's what he looked like then, years before we met:



(Gotta love that furniture and harvest gold carpeting. Or not.)

Woodward is still going strong. It employs about 1,476 people in the Fort Collins/Loveland area and a few years ago moved its corporate headquarters from Rockford to Fort Collins.

For the most part, my husband has wielded his influence in positive ways...though my life would no doubt be easier without the heartache of being a Cub fan.

Comments

Lily Cate said…
I'm from the very southern edge of Wisconsin, just north of Chicago, and I have a lot of friends and family that have moved out to Colorado in the past ten years or so. They all love it! It does make me wonder why there, of all places, but I know it's beautiful there, and that counts for a lot when you live in a very flat place covered in corn and cabbage most of the year!
I grew up in Illinois and then spent a few years in another I state, Indiana. I like the weather better here in Colorado.

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