My Northern Wisconsin

Covering Ashland, Iron, Lincoln, Oneida, Price, Rusk, Sawyer, Taylor, and Vilas Counties


PHILLIPS: TED KEMPKES, CO-OWNER OF LONG LAKE NORTH


   
Submitted photo of Ted and Becky Kempkes shortly after they opened Long Lake North

Date Published:  May 22, 2019

Ted Kempkes moved to Phillips in the Summer of 1970 with his wife, Helen, and their infant son, Tim. The Kempkes family decided to make Phillips their home so that Ted could partner with his father, Robert, owning and operating the newspaper in Phillips. "After my dad returned to his career in education, Helen and I continued to own and operate THE-BEE," Ted said. They added the local shopper's guide and later purchased the Park Falls Herald. Ted is very proud of the job his staff did in providing local news of Price County and its various communities. The business was sold in 1998.

Ted and Helen raised three children, Tim, Jeff, and Sarah, who all graduated from Phillips High School. Following a two-year long illness, Helen passed on the year following Sarah's graduation from high school.

"Awhile after Helen's death, I met and married Becky, who shares my life to this day," Ted noted. This union added Becky's two children, Shawn and Jay, to the family. Together, Becky and Ted have taken on a number of activities, including owning Long Lake North, https://www.LongLakeNorth.com, a resort and residential property they built on Long Lake in Phillips.

"Phillips has been a great home for my family. When first arriving in Phillips, there was a billboard on the south side of town that read, "Welcome to Phillips, the Friendliest Little City in Wisconsin." Through the years, our friends, acquaintances, and associations proved that phrase completely true," Ted said. He added that the opportunity to travel while living in Phillips has emphasized his family's realization that Price County is, indeed, home. "There's nowhere we'd rather live," Ted stated.

Ted feels many associations in the area have made his time here gratifying. While active in civic and local government, he views serving on the board of Northcentral Technical College, and the final two years of his term serving as chairman of that board, especially rewarding.

"Over the years, I've learned that it is far more important to work for what you love than to fight what you hate. That's something I think of every day, along with how much family means to me," he said.

It is evident that family does mean a great deal to Ted. "What matters most to me, in spite of business and professional success, is being a husband and a dad. Helen and I raised three great children and, after I met Becky, the family grew to five children, their husbands and wives, and now ten grandchildren." Ted said that being a dad and grandpa is simply life-fulfilling.  I could not be happier living in Phillips and enjoying our family."

   

Written By:  Lynne Bohn for My Price County

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(This post was last modified: 01-24-2022, 02:35 AM by My Northern Wisconsin.)