Leave it to a professional planner to create a blueprint for the first few months of her retirement. 

Whitefish Senior Planner Wendy Compton-Ring retires May 1 after working 30 years as a city planner, with over 20 in Whitefish. Within a couple weeks, she will be basking on a beach in the Cook Islands.  

Compton-Ring will be accompanied by her husband, Dave Ring, who recently retired from the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. 

"We're going to go to Hawaii and then go to the Cook Islands, to Rarotonga, hang out on a beach,” Compton-Ring said. “Then, we planned a ton of backpacking, camping, hiking trips.” 

From now until mid-October, the pair will be on the go and in the wilderness, from the peaks in Glacier and Yellowstone to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. She unfolded a map of Glacier Park with many trails highlighted, indicating trails they’ve hiked, and she pointed out a few un-inked ones that are next on her list. 

The newly commitment-free couple has picked up something to enhance their adventures. 

“We just got a little camper, so we're going to take that out and see how that works,” she said. “We’ll take that out in the woods and go to the desert.” 

THE PLANNING department is the first stop for each proposed development project, so Compton-Ring has had a hand in all of them over the last 20 years 

While some projects have been stressful, other aspects of the job have been fulfilling, like seeing affordable housing becoming a priority.  

While the City Council has been discussing it since the 1980s, Compton-Ring said a turning point came when businesses began talking with the Chamber of Commerce about how difficult it is to retain workers because of housing difficulties. 

"That really launched that topic to the forefront of everybody's minds,” she said. “The different organizations that have really stepped up and been created – the Housing Whitefish group with Daniel Sidder, and then Riss [Getts] over at the Housing Authority, and there's amazing people at the Land Trust and Habitat – it's really cool.” 

She also noted the change to the resort tax that earmarked some funds for housing, the Depot Park Townhomes project, the city's Housing Committee and a recently hired city staff member who deals mostly with housing. 

"While it isn't a development project, I think [affordable housing is] sort of sprinkled into everything that is happening now,” she added. 

After 40 years of continuous work – her first job was scooping ice cream at Baskin-Robbins – Compton-Ring is ready to retire, although she anticipates that some parts of it will feel strange. 

“I'm going to miss not knowing what's going on in town,” she said. “It's going to be really weird.” 

She is trying to change her perspective. 

"When I walk to work or ride my bike around town, I'm just trying to look at it with a different eye. Not ‘Oh, what do we need to do there? or ‘Oh, we’ve got to do this,’” she said. “It'll just be, ‘Oh, look at this nice street and these nice sidewalks. Who made sure that happened?’” 

Although Compton-Ring will no longer have a hand in every project, she knows the city is in good hands. 

“Everybody here is just doing the best job for the town, and everybody is just such a hard worker, and they're all so smart,” she said. “It's nice to work in a place where everybody is giving everything.” 

AFTER EARNING her undergraduate degree at the University of Montana, she attended Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, for her master's degree in public administration. She began her career with an internship in planning, where she found it was an interesting field that can help improve community spaces and facilitate walking and biking. 

“I got a job with the state of Washington for a few years in their state planning office, and then was able to come back home, because this is home for me,” she said. “My dad, he worked for the railroad ... and my mom was a grade school teacher in Kalispell.”  

Her 24-year-old son and almost 27-year-old daughter are obviously sources of pride, but there is one thing. 

“They both graduated from Whitefish, and both went to Montana State University, even though my husband and I are Griz. So, so disappointing,” she laughed. 

Reporter Julie Engler can be reached at 406-862-3505 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at whitefishpilot.com/support.