• February 23rd, 2010

• Author:

  leahgrove

What do you think the chances are that your next door neighbor at Echota went to Appalachian State University? Or that one of the Echota staff you know did? It might be as high as one in three, as it turns out. In fact, a third of Echota employees are former ASU students, most of who chose to settle in the High Country after graduation.

Among the Echota homeowners who fell in love with the High Country as a college student is Scott Lampe. A native of Durham, Lampe bought a vacation residence at Echota three years ago with his wife. He attended ASU with Echota VP of Development Will Sears. Both were members of Pi Kappa Alpha.

Lampe admits he and his wife Deanne were looking for a home in the mountains and could have found one anywhere in western North Carolina. But it was his connection to Sears at Echota and ASU that brought him back to the High Country. “I’d been visiting the mountains since I was a kid,” Lampe says. “My wife went to ASU, too, so we’ve always enjoyed the High Country and the football games.” The couple also appreciates the maintenance-free lifestyle of Echota.

While at ASU, Lampe majored in accounting and is now Chief Financial Officer at Hendrick Motorsports near Charlotte.

Full-time Echota homeowner Richard Tickle also attended ASU, coming to the High Country on a football scholarship in the 1960s. Inducted into ASU’s Athletic Hall of Fame, Tickle served as an assistant football coach and as director of student housing for several years before going into the furniture business.

Three years ago Tickle decided to semi-retire to the High Country when he bought a residence at Echota. A native of eastern North Carolina, Tickle says, “When I went to school here, I fell in love with the mountains, and my goal was always to move back here someday.”