Locals in the Limelight; Tianii and Chris Costlow

By KATHY TAYLOR

I sat down for my interview with Chris and Tianii Costlow at their auto repair shop.

Chris spends a lot more time here than at home and has built his reputable business through years of hard work and service to our town. Although well known in the community, they are both very busy in their jobs, and they choose to spend rare time off with their family, a close network of friends or just as a couple doing the things they love. Chris is a hard-working, polite man with a calming presence. Tianii,who describes herself as shy, is a woman who has the inner beauty to match the exterior, a devoted wife and mother who is as much a part of the family business as the mechanics. She was not afraid to interject and set the record straight when it came to things that Chris wasn't sure about. They have a mutual admiration for one another and the kind of shared history that a couple who has been together since they were in high school and married 30 years can achieve.

Tianii was born in Spokane in 1957 but grew up in Mountlake Terrace. Her father worked long hours as an electronics engineer; her mother mostly stayed home to take care of the girls. Tianii has three sisters, all blonde like her, and close in age. The four girls shared one bathroom, which I am sure conttributes to Tianii's organizational skills to this day. The girls are close; in fact, she said, one of her sisters has a beautiful home in Coeur d'Alene overlooking the lake, and that is where the family congregates. When Tianii was a senior, her parents divorced. When asked how that affected her, she was matter of fact, “I wanted my parents to be happy. If things weren't working out for them, I figured that they should be able to split up, much like one of us girls breaking up with a boyfriend." In high school, Tianii was a tomboy, a straight-A student and Honor Society president, although she said, “I was too shy to lead the meetings so someone else had to do it."

Chris was born in Seattle in 1960 and attended grade school in Mountlake Terrace. His mother worked as a grocery store clerk and other odd jobs, and his father as a state trooper and a teamster negotiator. Chris has two younger sisters, one is three years younger and one is nine years younger. As a child, Chris always had an inquisitive mind and said that "I took apart my toys more than I played with them." From the time he was in fourth or fifth grade he was starting to build motors, go carts and mini bikes. Chris attended junior high and high school in Bothell where he was not so much interested in academics as he was auto shop. Particularly history class, "I hated it The really weird thing is that I love the History Channel now." Chris sometimes juggled up to four shop classes at a time. He won the Golden Wrench Award in high school and was involved in VICA (Vocational Industrial Clubs of America) competitions. He made all As in his shop classes and always had a job after school from the time he was 16. From early on, Chris said his goal was "to get out of school and start making money."

Chris and Tianii met at the KFC where they both worked when he had just turned 16 and she was 19. He was a cook, she was a counter girl. A friendship blossomed, but Tianii had a long term boyfriend and told me she had no intention of ever dating a guy who was that much younger than she was. They remained friends after Chris left and took a different job. Chris would go to see her and it made him mad that now "I had to pay for my chicken." Tianii grinned and said "he was nice, and he would work on my car if I needed it." Tianii would help Chris with classes, even making flash cards for him. After a year or so, she agreed to go on a date with him since she and her boyfriend had broken up. They would snowmobile and ride motorcycles together, passions they both shared.

During the five years they dated, they were living in Lynnwood and Everett. Tianii was searching for a field after high school where she could "earn a scholarship and get out." She had wanted to be a vet and realized she could never give shots. Then she wanted to be a psychiatrist but realized she would probably be in tears. So she earned a scholarship for beauty school and decided that she would figure out the rest later. Chris worked part time at a fleet outfit maintaining heavy equipment (trucks.) In order for him to go full- time after high school, he was required to become a journeyman. They were a union shop. For four years, he drove 50 miles, round-trip, two nights a week to attend the necessary classes at South Seattle Community College. After the first year, the head mechanic left and Chris was bumped up to journeyman wages. His second year of his apprenticeship, he felt he had learned the ropes and many of his future classes became a review of stuff he was already doing on his job. I asked him if he thought he would make a good teacher? Tianii immediately shook her head no and Chris agreed saying "I just don't have the patience to teach."

After five years together, they co owned a home, but Tianii had no intention of ever getting married or having kids. Chris proposed to her at the Space Needle in Seattle. She told me, "I hesitated and then thought, well…if the ring fits." Fortunately it did, and they wed in a small, private ceremony in Reno in 1982. In keeping with their sense of adventure and fun, they enjoyed a honeymoon in Lake Tahoe and returned home to Everett to have a reception with family and friends.

Their son Jason was born in 1985, followed by Daniel in 1987. Tianii had a licensed in-home daycare for five years so she could stay home with her boys. She shared a funny story about her son Daniel when he was about four. She had briefly turned her back and he decided to construct what looked like a makeshift electric chair for one of the girls in the daycare. She was taped to the chair with foil around her arms and legs. I laughed so hard because both her boys are such kind, respectful and polite young men.

When the boys were young, their neighborhood was wooded and somewhat undeveloped. She enjoyed outings to the petting zoo with the daycare kids, the park and McDonald's playland with another friend who had also brought her daycare kids. The family had been coming to Odessa to visit Chris' parents and his parents really encouraged them to move here because it would be such a great place to raise a family. Apartments were going up around them, the city was putting in a dump, the crime rate was going up and they decided it was time to relocate when the boys were in second and fourth grades. It was time for a change, so Tianii gathered recommendation letters from her clients and landed a job at the Odessa School District as a Special Ed Para Educator which she still does now. She packed up the boys in 1994 and moved to Odessa where she started her job two days later. Chris followed a few months later. Because his spouse had relocated for a job, it allowed him to draw unemployment which was a blessing for the family because he did not know what he was going to do yet.

What started out as a hobby turned into a career for Chris whether he planned it that way or not. His niche was automotive repairs and rebuilds so he started doing a few jobs out of his garage. Because he had been doing primarily heavy trucks, he had to re-familiarize himself and self train with videos and books because the technology had advanced so much. As the jobs became more frequent, Chris saw a need and realized he could open a business. "I needed him out of there!" Tianii said referring to all the vehicles and parts spilling out of the garage. They bought a large commercial building in downtown Odessa and opened Costlow's Services. Chris is dual master ASE certified in heavy equipment and automotive, although he prefers to stick with the mainstream automotive stuff. His other mechanic, Lou Kyzivat, has worked for him for four years and is also ASE automotive certified. The family business is thriving, but not without a lot of hard work and sacrifice. Chris has back issues and puts in 11 hour days on the average. Tianii comes in after school and does two to three hours of bookkeeping. "My goal would be to hire another mechanic so I could oversee things and take some of the load off of her," he said. He did mention he really tries to preserve his weekends for his family, but he often times finds himself down at the shop.

Tianii and Chris were talking about when their boys were young and can still remember them riding around in their modified jeep car. Chris smiled and said "I put a car battery in it so they could actually drive it around for hours." Jason would drive and hold up his little brother in the other seat. "Daniel used to cry a lot and it would keep him entertained," Tianii said. Their house was the hangout house after school, their sons were very social. When the boys graduated and left home, they couldn't wait to get out of Odessa. "Funny thing though, they started coming home every weekend," Tianii said. Their sons are both machinists after graduating from community college and both work swing shift for CNC Machine in Spokane which does industrial casting and custom industrial machine parts. Although they hung out a lot at the auto shop with their Dad, he is somewhat relieved they chose a different path. "Turning wrenches," Chris said, is a tough business.

The Costlows are an active family who love to camp, motorcycle, snowmobile and fish together. For years, it has rarely been the two of them at home. They have taken in family members, neighbors, friends and particularly kids in need. I was shocked when they attempted to remember, and name off, all of the people they have taken in over the years. They don't look at it as exceptional, just the right thing to do. She loves to make her special education kids at school light up with simple things like crafts, birthday parties or holiday decorations. Currently, they are helping a young man graduate from high school and learn a trade so that he can have a better quality of life. He lives with them and goes along on their family outings, they treat him as they would treat their sons. Their compassion, patience and generosity are humbling.

One of the keys to their happy marriage though, according to Tianii, is that they maintain a balance of having their own outside hobbies and interests as well. She loves to go do things with her sisters and friends. She enjoys an occasional outing to the casino, but Chris doesn’t as much. "After I lose 20 bucks, I'm done," he laughed. Chris, although admittedly the more stubborn of the two, says that compromise is key, and having realistic expectations of your spouse is important. His polite, unassuming nature is in stark contrast to his adrenaline rush, need-for-speed lifestyle. They possess a true partnership, and Tianii summed it up beautifully when she said, "I am his brakes."