The Community News - Friday, July 8, 2005
Winquist celebrates three years in business at Hearing Aid Center
By Patti Keck
Special to The Community News
Anne Winquist is the owner of Anne's Hearing Aid Center, and she celebrated exactly three years in business at her present location June 18.
"A doctor in Granbury said if I'd work for him he would help me in school," Anne said. "I did go to school and worked for him for three years. I worked for another company in Fort Worth for a few years, then in Granbury. I decided it's time for me to open my own business."
To help get the business going Anne went around town with flyers and business cards.
Anne said her husband Jim had been director of transportation for the Granbury school district. He retired and went to work with her.
Now Jim is the business manager, is in charge of all the advertising, answers the telephone, talks to people and does anything else that needs to be done.
"I do the testing and determine what people need for their hearing loss. Most of the digital hearing aids are programmed for their specific needs," Anne said.
She thinks the quality of hearing aids has improved.
"The digital hearing aid sound quality is very clean, clear and natural," she said. "The old ones didn't sound clean clear and had a lot of distortion like a 78 record. The digital is like a CD."
Anne and Jim have been married for nine years and the devotion between them is obvious. Once Jim decided to surprise Anne and wrote a special letter about her and had it put in the newspaper. They went to breakfast at IHOP and Jim casually handed the paper to Anne to read. She started crying. The waitress came along, read it, and cried also. One or two more people in the restaurant saw it and were touched. Anne asked Jim to show her in private the next time
Anne has two sons from a previous marriage, Adam, 21, and Allen, 19.
She also has two "babies": two Welch Corgi named Cooter and Harley share the spotlight in the Winquist home.
"We had two Harleys and rode around the, countryside. We enjoyed them a lot but we began to have less time to ride and the traffic got so bad it wasn't fun anymore. We hadn't fallen yet, so we decided it was a good time to get rid of them."
Anne's hobby is gardening.
"I have a flower garden around our swimming pool and, the flowers are so beautiful — like the Botanical Gardens in Fort Worth," she said. "The cannas are especially lovely, bright red and yellow."
Chicken enchiladas are a favorite to make, eat, and order at On The Border.
Anne said she and Jim love to travel, but it's hard to get the time off. Anne, Jim, Jim's dad and Jim's brother are planning a trip to Lake Tahoe. The guys plan to go into the back woods and camp while Anne plays around in.
A funny saying of Anne's grandmother goes like this: "If you're talking to yourself and know it, you're o.k. If you don't know, you are in trouble."
Anne sums up her philosophy by saying, "We treat people the way we want to be treated and it usually comes back to us. It has helped us in all aspects." |
