Animals have always had a special place in Christine Richie’s heart.
“They bring me joy and give me purpose,” said Richie, who owns Scotts Valley Feed with her husband, Mike. “My job is to encourage and provide the knowledge people need in order to best care for their pets.”
As a child, she would take animals home, but she was never allowed to keep them. Her parents, Eldon and Neva Easter, were busy preparing for the mission field. Her father studied at Bethany Bible College in Scotts Valley.
When Richie was 12, Eldon Easter left Scotts Valley and moved the family to North Fork to continue his training. A year later, the Easters moved to Costa Rica. Then her family relocated once again, this time to Honduras. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a high school in the area, so Richie was sent back to California to attend school and live with a family her parents had met.
“It wasn’t easy leaving my parents and younger brother, Craig, and going to a strange place where I knew no one,” Richie said. “Many missionary kids were sent to Monte Vista Boarding School in Watsonville. Craig arrived two years later, but he lived with a different family.”
Richie’s host family lived in Edison Powerhouse No. 3, an electric company camp in Southern California. It was a small community in the mountains, built around a hydroelectric powerhouse. She attended Sierra Joint Union High School in Tollhouse. With about 400 students, it was the only high school between Fresno and Yosemite. Richie went back to visit her family in Honduras once each summer.
“The family I lived with were wonderful, caring people, but it just wasn’t the same,” Richie said. “They already had four children, and I wanted to be with my real family. It was hard leaving them at the end of the summer, but I realized that I didn’t have a choice.”
She met her husband, Mike, when she was 15. He was a year older and lived in the same camp. They rode the bus together — an hour’s trip each way. In 1968, he started college at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. She left for Fresno State the following year, to major in Latin American studies and political science.
“I really loved Honduras and wanted to work overseas as a diplomat,” Richie said. “I was distressed with the politics and wanted to make a difference. I eventually realized that this wasn’t feasible for me and had to let go of my dream.”
After graduation, Mike Richie got a job working as an engineer at Watkins-Johnson in Scotts Valley. They were married in 1972 and had two sons and a daughter.
“We lived in a little mobile home park on Scotts Valley Drive. Back then, people rode horses down the street,” Christine Richie said. “We’d walk over to the feed store with the kids to see the animals. Little did I know that some 30 years later, we’d end up owning that store.”
Their children helped determine their next step.
When their daughter was 8, she began horse vaulting. After initially resisting buying a horse or traveling to competition, the Richies started a vaulting team, bought four horses and traveled all over Europe before eventually, in May 2004, buying the local feed store.
“That’s how life works sometimes,” Richie said, laughing.
Today, Richie works at the store along with her husband and 14 employees. She tries to gather as much information as possible to educate her staff and serve customers. Another goal is to help others find homes for their animals.
Richie’s menagerie includes Percy the rabbit, three disabled chickens and two cats. Audrey, a lame duck — a favorite among customers — died recently. People like the animals and take food and toys to the store for them.
Richie is also passionate about growing organic food and getting rid of genetically modified organisms.
She gives tours to preschoolers, showing them how to care for different animals.
“It’s important that we do everything we can to improve the lives of others, no matter who they are. And this includes animals,” she added.
– Sandi Olson of Scotts Valley is a writer, speaker and teacher. She writes about interesting people in Scotts Valley and the San Lorenzo Valley. Email her at [email protected].
