Return to Newman Lake
On the first truly glorious Sunday of the season, Susan Schuler looked around the Newman Lake Resort and Marina the way only a new owner can.
She watched happily as patrons pulled up in boats to pick up a few items from the resort’s store. Snacks, sodas and beer made their way out onto the lake.
Her eyes, her words, her passion all underscore her vision of what can be. What will be.
Susan and her husband, Rudy, have great plans for the former resort on Cherokee Bay.
Back in the day there were many resorts scattered around Newman Lake. Across the lake there used to be a floating dance floor and live music could be heard from most of the lake’s bays.
“I’ve been told there were nine different resorts on the lake,” Susan said. “The first number I was told was that there were seven, but the old-timers tell me there were nine. They even told me that Bing Crosby used to come out to the lake and sing.
“I like the idea of keeping some of that history alive by maintaining this resort. It means a lot to both of us.”
The passion, they say, took root quickly.
“The first thing people asked us when we bought the property was if we were going to keep making pizzas and if we were going to put in fuel,” Susan Schuler laughs. “Pretty much in that order.”
The pizzas stayed, and the couple plan to add delivery by boat in the near future.
“Every once in a while I even jump in there and help make pizzas,” Susan Schuler laughs. “That’s the family joke because I never cook. Ever.”
The couple obtained a liquor license at the beginning of the year. For the first time in recent memory, boaters can purchase beer and wine on the lake.
Fuel sales, they say, should begin in the fall if the permit process goes according to plan.
The initial idea, Susan Schuler said, was to make the resort and marina a fourth job for the couple. Rudy Schuler owns Equestrian Developments, a company that specializes in designing and building fencing for horses. In addition to Susan Schuler’s career, the couple owns Pleasant View Self-Storage in Post Falls.
But the company Susan Schuler works for shut down its Seattle and San Francisco offices and moved operations to Minneapolis. Her last day of full employment is next Saturday.
“I think it’s a good thing because this place really needs my full attention,” she said. “In fact, I don’t think we could do this without a lot of help from family.”
Susan Schuler’s parents, Dave and Sharon Hamel, help out. So do sons, Brandon and Daniel and daughter, Brittany.
A third son, David, recently returned from deployment in Iraq and is stationed at Fort Bragg. The couple just returned from a visit to North Carolina.
“He called me from Iraq not long ago,” Susan Schuler said. “His best friend was blown up in a convoy and it was the first time he’s ever called me in tears.
“But that got me thinking. Our veterans need places where they can go and decompress from all the stress they’re under. They need a place where they can go with their families and reconnect with one another – a place where they can go and recover from what they’ve been through.”
The Schulers now plan to build a set of cabins at the resort and offer them to returning veterans and their families. They’ve been encouraged by talks with the Veterans Affairs and with Fairchild Air Force Base.
The resort is a work in progress. The docks need work, Rudy Schuler said, and the water around the marina must be dredged.
“I have a 24-foot pole,” he explained. “I can sink it all the way down into the silt at the end of the dock and it still won’t touch bottom. The whole lake bottom in Newman Lake is covered in this stuff.”
Eventually, the marina will expand – more than quadrupling the number of boat slips from the current 14.
“We’re even offering to store people’s boats at our storage facility.” Susan Schuler said. “It’s a year-round package.”
The couple hope the public understands the process and, well, pardons their dust.
“I hate to admit it, but I have two different ways of thinking about it,” Rudy Schuler said. “On the one hand, I really don’t want people to see things the way they are now and go away thinking, ‘Is that all?’ On the other hand, we need people to come out and enjoy what we have now so that we can continue renovating. I just hope they understand that this is a work in progress and think of it as an investment.”
The resort is readying for its first Memorial Day weekend under new ownership.
MasterCraft will demonstrate its latest boat models at the marina Saturday, hold a pro shop sale in the afternoon, and premiere the outdoor movie “Drive” at 9 p.m.
“We want people to enjoy themselves here and have fun,” Susan said. “But we’d also like to find people to invest in the project and feel like they are a part of it all. We want them to be partners.”