It didn't look good.

Rock Springs horrified Marlene Ethier. "It looked all torn up. And rough," she said.

It was also a bit creepy.

In Wisconsin, where Marlene and husband Larry lived, the job market for teachers had dried up, a consequence of school consolidation.

So Larry found a teaching job in Rock Springs. He visited the town on an interview trip. But Marlene, a nurse, was hired sight unseen by a hospital desperate for staff members.

That was nearly 30 years ago, during the last energy boom.

When she and Larry rolled into town, workmen leaned on their shovels and gawked, like they hadn't seen a woman in a while. It was unsettling.

"I cried when I got here," Marlene said. "For a long time."

"I'm from a green place. And this was not."

The couple's first challenge was housing. The locals said if it came down to it, they could pitch a tent in the desert for the summer. They weren't joking.

The school district had some housing available which Marlene found appalling.

"It was unsafe," she said. "They had apartments down on K Street, which is where all the hookers and drug traffic was. I couldn't live on K Street and come home at midnight from working."

Larry and Marlene caught a break when they found a small, one-bedroom house owned by an elderly couple.

The old folks were instrumental not only in helping the Ethiers get settled, but in helping them adapt. They knew where to buy fresh meat, where to shop and what plumber to call. The elderly man, a retired coal miner, shared his favorite fishing hole with Larry. It's a spot the Ethiers still visit.

Before long, the Ethiers began making friends - at first among people much like themselves. In the 1980s, young professionals from the Midwest were moving to Rock Springs.

"We had a lot of friends that were from Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin, and we were all kind of our own little subculture because we were all strangers in a strange land," Marlene said.

On the job front, Rock Springs offered opportunity. Larry got a chance to coach; Marlene was soon offered a part-time teaching position at Western Wyoming Community College.

Marlene and Larry are still in Rock Springs, where they have not only survived, but thrived.

Which isn't to say the memory of Wisconsin completely faded. "I think in the back our mind, we always thought when we get to a certain point we will go back. We will go back to Wisconsin when the time is right," Marlene said.

A potential turning point came when Larry's mother died. It was a stark reminder that their Wisconsin family ties were not forever.

So after 10 years in Rock Springs, the Ethiers began weighing a possible move. But by then, Larry had some security in the school district, and Marlene was working on a master's degree, with good prospects at the college. The economic arguments for staying were strong.

At the same time, their daughter and son didn't have the same Wisconsin roots, and pulling them away from school and friends would have been difficult.

Larry is now in his 28th year in the school district, where he teaches health and physical education. Marlene is director of the nursing program at Western Wyoming Community College.

Even so, they have never completely escaped the pull of the Midwest. When they retire in a few years, the Ethiers are planning to leave Rock Springs.

"I'd like to live somewhere greener where things grow, and things just grow on their own," Marlene said. "You don't have to nurture every little thing."

Wherever they live, it won't be far from their children, who have moved to North Dakota. One day, there also will be grandchildren. Marlene must be closer to them.

Marlene said newcomers should take advantage of what the state offers, such as the outdoor recreation, and not spend much time pining about what they left behind: "Whichever way your life goes, there are advantages and disadvantages."

Reach business editor Tom Mast at (307) 266-0574 or tom.mast@trib.com