Dave Hudson & Kristy Kuehn

Story By Ingrid Sjostrand

Where you live has a major impact on the path your life takes. It can determine where you work, your hobbies and, in the case of Dave Hudson, Kristy Kuehn and the city of Ferndale, the people you fall in love with.

Surely there are plenty of Ferndale love stories, but the thing that makes this one unique is the couple’s love for and personal investment in the city itself. Not only does their story include Ferndale landmarks, each of their careers make Ferndale a better place in two very different ways.

Kuehn moved to Ferndale 12 years ago after finishing her degree in early childhood special education, and immediately took a job working in Ferndale Schools.

“I am a sibling of a person with a disability, I grew up with disability being a part of my life so I always knew that special education was what I wanted to work with,” Kuehn says. “I had just finished student teaching and interviewed with Ferndale right away, and felt my personality and the things I look for in a community matched most with Ferndale.”

Hudson, on the other hand, worked in computer visual effects for 15 years and one day in 2012 decided to take the leap and start his own furniture company, Hudson Industrial, and chose Ferndale as the home for his small business. He now has a store in Rust Belt Market and a workspace on Hilton Rd.

“I just started making stuff for myself, I think I made a coffee table as the first thing and sold it on Etsy, and that kind of sparked the idea of a business,” Hudson says. “I started making more and more things, and maybe three months after making that table I got a spot at the Rust Belt.”

And Rust Belt Market is a major setting in their love story. Kuehn regularly walked her dog there, located at the corner of 9 Mile and Woodward, to visit a friend and Hudson caught her eye. A few months later, they went on their first date and have been together for more than two years.

“We got married six weeks ago, got engaged at Rust Belt and had a reception there in August,” Kuehn says. “We went to Scotland to get married and it was just him and I so now we have to invite everyone to our party.”

Both say that they couldn’t consider any place but Ferndale home, affectionately referring to the city as their ‘bubble.’

“We don’t even leave Ferndale often, it has everything we need,” Kuehn says. “It’s a place where we feel safe in a lot of different ways – not only personal safety – but we feel like being around a variety of people, being in an LGBT community, it represents a lot more than itself; it means the people here are accepting and open.”
That sentiment greatly influenced Kuehn’s decision to work for Ferndale Schools; where she has taught for ten years now working with students ages two and a half through five years old with a range of disabilities, most frequent being Autism Spectrum Disorder. Initially, she says she was hesitant to work in the same city she lives but the community has consistently proven that she made the right choice.

“The longer I’ve been here the more important I find it to be a part of my community because the kids in my classroom are my neighbors and families,” she says. “It’s so much more meaningful because at the end of the day I don’t just leave my classroom, I see everyone out and about.”

Similarly, Hudson is often reminded of why he chose Ferndale for his business. He gets offers to join larger corporations regularly, but finds it import-ant that his products are custom made exclusively by him with just a small team to help him sell.

“It’s not just what I do – making stuff and having that business – it feeds into being a part of this community,” He says. “I do it all myself and take great pride in that, but it has been a challenge trying to keep up and not get bigger than I am.”

He has even made a few pieces for Kuehn’s class-room at the Early Childhood Center, including a handicap-accessible sandbox. Hudson is now on the Ferndale Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Small Business Council and despite a lack of formal training, he has found the small business and local manufacturers to be very welcoming. He even meets with a group almost every morning at Pinwheel Bakery on 9 Mile to discuss their work.

“We talk about shop and customers and tools, things like that,” Hudson says. “It’s cool to talk about different techniques in how to finish wood and or even business stuff, how to deal with customers.”
“It’s really entertaining, we call it the Coffee Craftsman Crew,” Kuehn adds.

“Other than that, working with the city has been really awesome, running a business here has been really easy,” Hudson says.

He hopes to open a standalone store soon, but continue to keep his space in Rust Belt because of the people he has met there and the connections he has built. Which is what it all comes down to for both Hudson and Kuehn – connections and community.

“I love him being his own boss and being able to be a local business owner,” Kuehn says. “I really love for him that his workspace is two blocks away from my school and he’s so close.”

And Hudson notes, “I like to see the reactions of parents, she’s super humble about it but you remember your teachers. Her kids might not but the parents do. There are certain things you remember your entire life and she has a huge impact on being a part of the community, and I’m super impressed by that.”