Businesses committed to Gray
By Elizabeth Prata

Gray--Owning your own business means you work hard and long, often, you end up spending most of your daylight hours in your office staring at the outside world. If you had a chance to work in a place where you can see deer grazing, fox bounding, turkeys waddling, cattails waving, and the occasional moose ambling, would you?

That's what local business owners Chris and Fran Dombrowski of Gray Chiropractic and John Couture of State Farm Insurance decided when they built a new office complex, and decided specifically to build it in Gray.
For the commuter who only sees the traffic in Gray Center, there is much unspoiled acreage in Gray, and near to the center, too.

Just a quarter mile from the Turnpike Interchange at former Exit 11 was a plot of land across from Marden's that was quiet, had abundant wildlife, and was close to town. Right, Couture

"I'd always wanted my own place, I'd been renting for ten years and was looking to build," Dombrowski said. Once Dombrowski got to the point of being able to build an office, it was a matter of finding the right partner to join the project, and of finding the right piece of land to build on. Enter John Couture.

Couture had been an agent for State Farm in Gray for a year when Dombrowski proposed building an office complex together. The two were neighbors renting space in Gray on Main Street. "I said, sure, but give me some time," Couture said. Only a few short years later, Couture was ready and the two began looking for the right piece of property.

The right piece for both of them meant pastoral, convenient, with a relaxing atmosphere. "I figured, I am inside most of the day and it could be nice to be in garden-like atmosphere for me and for my clients," Couture said. The two men are also committed to Gray, and to doing their part to preserve the rural nature of it. The land they found sits atop a hill and is backed up against wetland and forest.

"We saw the potential here," Dombrowski said. "It's a really beautiful lot," Couture added. "It seems that way the land lays you'd put your office facing the main road, but we wanted to face the wetland," Couture continued. Left, Dombrowski

Dombrowski said that a lot of thought and a lot of vision went into the planning. "Instead of looking over asphalt, we wanted to look out over the land and see the wildlife." The two designed a sweeping driveway that evokes a feeling of privacy and peace as the client enters the property. They added dormers over the doorways for added architectural interest, and Couture and his wife Lee are landscaping the side yard.

Both men are proud of having achieved their vision. "When you're in business a certain amount of time you want to reach that next accomplishment," Dombrowski said. But building something with a partner takes a great deal of trust. "Finding the right partner is not easy," Couture said.

They built a third space that is available for lease, and when filled, will provide some income. Meanwhile, they see deer and turkeys every day, and they are proud to have done their part to help preserve the rural nature of the town they love so much.