Two unique people, one unique job

WASILLA - It might not be the sort of career a child would tell her parents she wants to pursue when she grows up, but Arlene Stoelting will tell you its important work, and she and her husband do it very well.

How do I put this delicately? she wondered aloud when asked about her career. The bottom line is we pump st, she said.

Stoelting, 44, and her husband, 48-year-old Tom, own Alpine Septic Pumping Inc., in Wasilla.

It is not unusual for people to ask her why she does what she does, but for Stoelting, the question seems to answer itself.

When you run a business doing something no one else wants to do, theres good money in it, she said.

Its a source of independence, she said.

Stoelting actually spends more of her work indoors, supervising the companys small staff of her husband, his son, and the occasional extra employee.

The nature of the work keeps the men my guys, as she called them outside, where they enjoy being anyway.

Stoelting particularly enjoys the service aspect of her work.

We help solve peoples problems when they have problems with their septics, she said. Its rewarding to be able to educate people, because its more than just coming out and pumping.

To that end, Stoeltings business produces brochures, conducts seminars and operates a Web site, all with the aim of educating the public about septics. Alpine also works with excavators and engineers.

Its nice to be able to help people solve a problem, she said.

When Stoelting first began her work with Alpine, she knew nothing about sewage or septic systems. In fact, her background is in insurance and law, she said, and she studied court reporting back in her home state of Wisconsin. She also has a masters degree in business and organization management. All of that has found a place, to one degree or another, in her new line of work.

And now, she said, she can do septic troubleshooting over the phone.

Stoelting and her husband spend a lot of time keeping up with trade journals and doing research. And while shes a relative newcomer in the business, Tom has been working with septic systems since the 1970s.

She also finds time for other interests like animals. Both the Stoeltings support the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Happy Paws.

Were very avid animal lovers and own four cats and a dog, she said. We encourage people to spay and neuter their animals, because it breaks our hearts to see animals put down because there are no homes for them.

She squeezes other interests in there, too, such as surfing the Internet, snowmachining, and volunteering with the Mat-Su Home Builders Association. Shed like to get involved with the Meadow Lakes Community Council, as well, but work keeps her busy. Very busy.

When people have a septic problem, its just nasty.Photo: Tom and Arlene Stoelting own a septic-pumping company on Vine Road.

Submitted photo