Well-traveled pilot, family move to Mendon for location, atmosphere

By Bryan Hinton

February 7, 2005 | MENDON -- As an airline pilot, Gary DeSpain has seen a lot. But when it came time find a new home, he and his family chose Mendon, Utah, over countless other choices.

"I thought [Mendon] was a cute, clean little small town," Gary said. "It has a nice, scenic location. There's a beautiful sunrise in the morning. It's also high enough that you can see all across the valley."

Not only has Gary seen many places as pilot, he has also lived in many places. His wife Shirley said he was born in Provo, but while he was in the Air Force, he was stationed in Florida and Texas among other places in the United States. He also served in Vietnam and flew commercially for an airline based in Saudi Arabia.

"The joke is that he flies to Tokyo and I go to Albertson's," Shirley said.

The decision to move to Mendon was not a no-brainer. When they decided to leave their home in New Hampshire, Shirley said the DeSpains also looked at Naples, Fla., Texas, and Colorado.

"We lived in Colorado for 19 years," she said. "We always had plans to move back eventually."

The DeSpains, who currently reside in Wellsville while their house in Mendon is completed, had their checklist for what they were looking for in any potential town they would move to.

"Gary needed mountains," Shirley said. "We needed land for our horses. We wanted to live in a university town, but we also wanted to be within an hour of a major metropolitan area."

Shirley said the DeSpains found Cache Valley almost by accident.

"We were driving through the valley to visit some of Gary's relatives and it looked really nice," she said. "I thought that we can try this out for a while."

Gary said it was the atmosphere of Mendon that lured him there.

"It kind of has a small, Mayberry, USA feel to it," he said. "There's just a real simple lifestyle. People don't have to worry about crime or anything like that. It's a very low-stress place to live."

Shirley said she was very impressed with the location of Mendon.

"Mendon has a view," she said. "It's got that scenic nature. The Wellsvilles are a pretty little mountain range."

Shirley said she also liked Cache Valley a lot because of the opportunities her daughter, Devin, has. "She was really involved [in New Hampshire]," she said. "I wanted to be in a place where she could be involved in something. Mendon is so handy."

Mendon was also appealing to the DeSpains because it was not growing nearly as fast as its surrounding community.

"The unique thing to us is that it's remained a pretty small, insular community where most of the communities around it have grown," Gary said. "Mendon, and Wellsville to a lesser extent, have been spared from the impact of the growth."

But despite the lack of growth, Shirley said she is amazed that people think Mendon is far away from everything.

"People are kind of spoiled in the valley," she said. "They think that driving from Logan to Mendon is a long way."

The DeSpains have high hopes for their new home, but admit that Mendon may not be their final resting place. "Our track record hasn't been real good for staying anywhere," Gary said. "Every place we move we think we'll be staying there a lot longer than we do."

The DeSpain family also lived in Boulder, Colo. and its surrounding area before moving to New Hampshire. Shirley said she is glad to have lived in so many places and met as many people as she has.

"We get Christmas cards from all over," she said.

Shirley said people shouldn't be afraid to see what's out there.

"There's so many beautiful places," she said. "If you have a job opportunity that you really want somewhere else, why would you turn it down just to stay where you're at?

Shirley said she does not feel as though she lost any friends by moving around. "People shouldn't worry about losing friends," she said.

"Friendships are something you have to work on, whether they live across the street or if they live across the country."

But even if the DeSpains will eventually move on, Shirley said they will enjoy their time in Mendon. "It's just a pretty town."

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