Good neighbors: Gudgels appreciate Espinozas’ thoughtfulness

Kenneth Gudgel and his wife, Helen, are fortunate indeed. On the one side of their Spokane Valley home they have deer neighbors. On the other, dear neighbors.

For three decades the Gudgels enjoyed having Joe Espinoza and his wife, Alice, next door.

The deer came later. Tuesday afternoon a young deer stood calmly munching petunias from a barrel planter in a neighbor’s driveway, watching cars cruise through the neighborhood.

“When we first moved up here, there was nothing behind us,” Alice Espinoza explained. “In those days, we didn’t have deer. But as people have moved in, the deer have come, too. I think they figure they’re safe here.”

The Gudgel-Espinoza friendship has flourished from the time the latter family moved in 31 years ago.

“He’s always doing things to help us out,” Helen says of Joe Espinoza. “Especially as my husband and I got older.”

When it snowed, Joe Espinoza would shovel the walkways and driveway. When the pine trees shed their needles, he raked up both yards.

“But it was more than that,” Helen insists. “He still calls regularly, just to see how we’re doing and to ask if there’s anything we need. Even now that we’ve moved out of our house and into a retirement home, he’s still calling to check on us and he still keeps an eye on our house for us.”

Those qualities prompted Helen Gudgel to nominate Joe Espinoza for last year’s Good Neighbor contest.

The former University High School Spanish teacher and coach feels he does nothing out of the ordinary, however.

“Helen and Doc Gudgel are the nicest people you’d ever want to know,” he said. “I think they were one of the first people to be in the Ponderosa. They were here when we moved in and we’ve enjoyed having them as friends and neighbors. I even had their daughter as a student – I saw her just the other day, as a matter of fact. She’s a dentist now.

“I find it interesting that they would be so appreciative. And then again, maybe not. I know there are a lot of people who are thankful for Dr. Gudgel. He was the family doctor for a lot of people around here and his wife helped with his practice.”

Joe Espinoza, who married his University of Idaho sweetheart, started teaching at University High School in 1961. Although he retired from teaching in 1999, he continued to coach until just last year. During his 46 years teaching and coaching U-Hi Titans, Espinoza served as the school’s second football coach, a girls softball coach, and was highly successful cross country coach Bob Barbaro’s popular assistant.

Today the couple shares their home with an exuberant golden retriever named Babe and are surrounded by furniture built by Joe in his workshop.

“If it’s made out of wood, he made it,” Alice said. “This has been a wonderful place to live and to raise a family now for 31 years.”

“I think the way I am as a neighbor comes from being a teacher and a coach,” Espinoza said. “When you see something that needs to be done, you just do it.”

He laughed.

“I think that probably makes you something of a buttinski, too,” he chuckled.

Between enjoying his neighbors and his former students, the Espinozas stay busy.

“Every summer we get invited to a lot of weddings, I can tell you that,” Joe laughed.