Layoff forces grad's dad to move

This is the third in a series of stories about Class of 2009 graduates who have been impacted by the economic recession.

On Thursday, Asunda Zimmer will see her father for the first time in a month.

The Flathead High School senior hasn't seen Peter Zimmer since he left for Santa Fe, N.M., in April. He left to take a job at one of the city's premiere restaurants, Chocolate Maven Bakery and Cafe.

It was a dream job, Asunda Zimmer said, one her father couldn't pass up - even though he hated to leave his family.

Zimmer, her mother and her two younger sisters stayed in Kalispell so the girls could finish the school year. It was especially important for Zimmer, who otherwise would have spent the last month of her senior year - the final weeks of high school - as the new kid at a strange school.

"It would have been kind of devastating for my last semester to go down there," she said.

The girls are used to moving. Zimmer said. Flathead is the 11th school she has attended in her 18 years; her family has lived all over New Mexico, in Baltimore and in Whitefish.

Peter Zimmer found his way to Santa Fe after a few months of unemployment. In January, he lost his job as assistant general manager at Red Lion Hotel Kalispell.

"It was a permanent layoff," Asunda Zimmer said. "They eliminated the position."

Over the next few months, she watched as her father sent out hundreds of job applications. He applied for a wide variety of jobs that reflected his wide background, she said. He has worked for hotels for several years but also has experience as a professional chef.

Despite his resume, Zimmer said her father struggled to find work - until Chocolate Maven called.

"They contacted him," she said, adding that the restaurant's timing was ideal. Peter Zimmer had been looking at jobs as far away as Bermuda.

New Mexico was significantly closer, but Zimmer said it was almost still too far away for her father.

"It wasn't something that was easy for my dad to accept, but he knew for us to be financially stable," he had to take the job, Zimmer said.

The family is close, and not having her father around during her final, hectic month of school has been difficult, Zimmer said. She talks to him nearly every night, but it isn't quite the same.

"It's been really weird, especially since the excitement of graduation" began, she said. "He really, really wishes he could be here."

His wish comes true Thursday, when he'll come home and stay for a couple of weeks - long enough to see his oldest daughter graduate Saturday and to celebrate the event afterward.

His wife and two youngest daughters eventually may join him in Santa Fe, but Asunda Zimmer plans to stay in the Flathead. Next fall she plans to take classes at Flathead Valley Community College and intern with the Christian Center. The internship program includes college-level Bible classes, which Zimmer hopes will transfer to a Christian school.

She hopes ultimately to become a missionary.

"I'm praying a lot. I want to make a big difference with my life," she said. "Whatever it is God has for me, I want to make a big difference."

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com