Job hunt on the coast pays off for young couple

C-Falls grads find happiness in Seattle

Josh Johns was the kind of kid who grew up wanting to know how things worked. He took a lawnmower apart one day to see what was what.

Growing up in West Glacier, the son of a general contractor and pounding nails since he was 13, he also learned something about how buildings are put together.

So it should be no surprise that after Josh graduated from Columbia Falls High School in 1998, he went off to Montana State University-Bozeman and entered the college's five-year master's program in architecture.

"I took Architecture 101 in my freshman year, but the classes threw me for a loop," he recalled.

The degree required classes in building codes, drafting and how buildings went together, but mostly it was an art program, he said. More than 200 people entered the program, but only 100 finished. Even fewer ever got their license - four years after leaving MSU, Josh passed his 9-part exam and became a licensed architect.

Jill Anderson, another 1998 C-Falls graduate, also went to MSU, where she received her bachelor's in business. The couple married in 2001, and two years later, Josh finished his architecture degree at MSU.

"I spent that summer horsing around in Montana," Josh said. "Then Jill and I headed out to Seattle."

The two had made contacts about work, but the Seattle economy was weak in 2003. They visited offices and dropped off resumes but always got the same glum look and news about recent layoffs.

"I took a construction job for about two months," Josh said. "I was taking my time, looking for the right job."

Maybe Josh learned something about patience from flyfishing on Montana rivers. A part-time job he found at E Cobb Architects one month later turned into a full-time job.

"I've been there eight years now," he said.

Jill's story went a little differently. She landed a job with Digital Kitchen, "a creative agency that produces award-winning and innovative communication strategies in converging media," she said. The company's work appears on TV screens every night across the U.S., from popular commercials to titles for shows such as "House," "Six Feet Under" and "Dexter."

She started out as a studio manager and executive assistant to the company's founder and CEO, and she worked her way up to lead producer. But with the arrival of three children, Mila, 4, and 15-month-old fraternal twins, Shilo and Annika, Jill opted to become a stay-at-home mom.

"She's an amazing mother," Josh said. "She gave up a higher-paying job than mine to do that."

Like other Montana graduates, Josh and Jill were drawn to Seattle's reputation as a big city with a progressive lifestyle and mountainous surroundings similar to the Flathead's.

"We wanted a change of pace and get some experience under our belt," Josh said about the move. "I also liked modern architecture, and there's not much of that in Montana."

At E Cobb Architects, Josh works on single-family residences and "tenant improvements" at a mix of urban, suburban and rural locations. He rode the Amtrak down to Lake Oswego, near Portland, Ore., for his first assignment, where he learned he wasn't old enough to rent a car. He designed homes on Lake Washington and around Seattle, and his current project is for a house on Whidbey Island.

Josh was project architect for a glass-sided house recently featured on the cover of "Home & Architectural Trends" magazine. With "breath-taking lake views," the house is entered by a bridge to the second floor. A sliding aircraft-hangar door converts the living room into an outdoor deck space.

When they first arrived in Seattle, the Johns found themselves out on the town, with Jill entertaining clients at some of the city's finest restaurants. That helped take the edge off the transition from rural Montana.

"I thought at first I wouldn't like it," Josh recalled. "I thought I'd give it a year. Then, one year later, we bought a home in West Seattle."

Josh says he might go out to a Mariners or Sounders game once in a while, but mostly he likes to take the family out of town, up to Stephens Pass or Snoqualmie Pass or south to Mount Rainier.

The Johns recently purchased a property on South Nucleus Avenue.

"Its a run-down house in need of either complete destruction or much TLC," Jill said. "We're likely choosing the TLC route and will be giving it a modern-makeover in the coming year or two."

Jill notes that she and Josh have a strong desire to raise their children here.

"It's just a matter of finding out how to make it in the Flathead and still have jobs and careers that satisfy us and pay the bills," she said.