CHAMBER CHALLENGE

PALMER — It was a promise to his wife that brought Ralph Renzi north earlier this year.

“My wife was from Palmer, she spent most of her life in the Palmer area,” Renzi said. “When we got married I kind of promised her if I could find the right job I’ll bring you back home.”

Having apparently found that job, Renzi took the helm of the Greater Palmer Chamber of Commerce at the start of last month.

“I love this job, it keeps you busy. Time goes quick,” he said.

Renzi takes over for former director Jillyan Hendrickson, who left to start a family.

Renzi said his wife actually spotted the job opening first. They’d both been looking for jobs in the area from their home in Boise, Idaho, where they’d moved from Washington state because she found a job.

“I did up a real quick resume for them and a cover letter and never thought I’d hear back, and the next thing you know they’re doing a Skype interview with me,” he said.

So far the work has mostly involved learning the ropes and introducing himself to various officials. He’s sat down with Palmer Mayor DeLena Johnson and with state Rep. Wes Keller, R-Wasilla, and Sen. Linda Menard, R-Mat-Su.

He’s also sat down with the Greater Wasilla Chamber of Commerce and met with various business owners around town.

“Just kind of, you know, walking around and shaking the hands and kissing the babies, basically,” Renzi said. “Everybody here has been extremely welcoming. They’ll offer me a cup of coffee and want to talk for a while.”

As far as his background goes, Renzi retired from the Air Force in 2006. He spent more than a decade at Fairchild Air Force Base outside of Spokane, Wash., working on bombers and nuclear cruise missiles, and more than nine years at Cape Canaveral in Florida working on rocket launches, and even one space shuttle mission.

“It was a lot of fun and I spent a lot of time down there and we had some successes and a few failures,” he said. “I retired out of Florida.”

Once out of the service he headed back to the Pacific Northwest, met his wife and made the move to Idaho. She’s still down there, planning to arrive in Alaska at Christmastime.

“We’ve got a total of seven kids. The first six range from 23 to 16,” he said. “This most recent addition is 8 months old,” he said.

With this new job in Palmer, he said his wife gets the honor of being a stay-at-home mom.

“I got a chance to be a stay-at-home dad for the first seven months,” he said.

As for his future at the chamber, Renzi said he hopes first and foremost to be an advocate for local businesses and to increase the chamber’s membership.

“There are many benefits to being chamber members and I need to get that word out,” he said.

The chamber’s various events around town are also very important, Renzi said. And there are quite a few of them. If the current run-up to Colony Christmas is any indication, Renzi expects he’ll have plenty of help.

“Palmer has got to be the most volunteer-oriented city I have ever seen. I have lived in all different corners of the U.S. and I have never seen a community come together like this,” he said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.