Maytag Corp. meant a lot to Chris  and Anne Wignall.

Besides being the company  where both had worked for more than  20 years, it was also where they met.

“It was an office romance,” Anne  said. “And I guess it worked out pretty  well for us, because we’ve been married  16 years and have two wonderful  children.”

But when word came in that Maytag  was for sale, and then that Whirlpool  was making an offer, the couple knew  their lives were about to change.

“We knew the sale would impact us  whether the Newton facilities stayed  open or not,” said Anne, who was  Maytag’s vice president of human  resources.”We were both in corporate  staff roles, and the Whirlpool corporate  headquarters is in Benton Harbor  (Mich.). For us, once we knew Maytag  was for sale and once the acquisition  was complete, we knew our future  opportunities would not be based  in Newton.”

But shortly after the sale was complete,  there was a ray of hope. Both of  the Wignalls, who live in Johnston,were  offered positions within Whirlpool. The  only catch was that those jobs would  take them away from the place they  call home.

“They offered us both jobs that were  as strong as we had, and financial packages  that were compelling,” Anne said.  “Their offers were very attractive. Plus,  we had worked with them for six  months and had gotten to know their  leadership team.We really liked them.  So, the offers were attractive. It was a  very, very tough call for us. After being  in this industry for 20 years and to have  them offer us these great positions to  continue with them, it was hard to  say no.”

But the couple did just that. They  said no.

“We toiled over it hard,” said Chris,  who served as senior vice president in  charge of integration of Maytag and  Whirlpool before leaving the company.  “We laid out what we were looking for  and tried to take in as much as possible  in terms of making this decision. We  evaluated it pretty long and hard, and at  the end of the day, it came down to the  fact that we love living here. It’s a great  community to raise our kids, and that’s  what won out at the end of the day.”

Thousands of lives have been affected  by the closing of Maytag’s factory  and corporate headquarters in Newton.  But for many, their love of Central Iowa  trumped the possibility of continuing  their career with the company, as they  turned down jobs with Whirlpool to  stay close to home.

Kevin Kacere did the same thing.

He was vice president of Maytag’s  Amana business unit and had worked  for the company for 17 years.  When he was offered a similar position  with Whirlpool, he had to do some  soul searching to determine where he  wanted to be.

“I came back on the Monday after  they made the offer and told them no,”  he said. “It really had nothing at all to do  with Whirlpool. For me, it was a matter  of keeping my family stable.”

Kacere said he and his wife, Connie,  have two teenage daughters in the Johnston  Community School District, and it  was a priority to allow them to enjoy  their high school years.

“I’ve been an Iowan my whole life,”  he said. “My family loves it here, and I  would never dream of leaving.”

But the transition hasn’t been easy.

The Wignalls admit that it takes some  adjustment to re-enter the job market  after more than 20 years.

“I think all of us at Maytag recognized  that we were kind of a headsdown  group while we were working,  putting in a lot of hours in Newton,”  Chris said.”Frankly,we didn’t do a good  job of networking with other business  leaders in Des Moines. So,when we recognized  that,we said we have to at least  stay connected to ourselves. We get  together once a week to help each  other connect to the Des Moines community  and share information back and  forth.We’ve been doing that for probably  six months. It gave us a platform to  start networking.”

Kacere said this support from his  fellow ex-Maytag co-workers has been  essential to getting back into the  job market.

“It’s weird, because some of us knew  each other pretty well before this, but a  lot of us have come together because  we’re in the same boat,” he said.”It has  been amazing to get to know these  people better.”

Anne Wignall said she was surprised  at the support the former Maytag  employees have received from the business  community.

“So many people have reached out  to help us,” she said. “Des Moines  business leaders have been very gracious  in providing us with networking  connections, job leads and business  connections. Leaders we have never  met before have invited us to lunch,met  us for coffee and provided great counsel.  This just reinforces our decision  that staying here was right for us.”

Though the time since leaving Maytag  has been an adjustment,Anne said it  has also been exciting.

“When we got through the grieving  stage of having to leave Maytag behind,  we were pretty focused on what’s  next,” she said.”We’re in our 40s, what  an exciting time. If we’re going to make  a change, this is the time to do it. Let’s  try something new and different. Let’s  take our time and explore what’s out  there.We’ll figure out what we love to  do, and then let’s go do that.”

For the Wignalls, that meant taking  the pieces of their former jobs at Maytag  that they truly enjoyed and turning  them into a new business.  They recently formed The Wignall  Group LLC, where they will focus on  talent management services, strategic  planning and business development,  sales and marketing.

“These are our favorite parts of what  we did for 20 years,” Chris said. “And  we are still open to other opportunities  that may arise.”

Kacere is still keeping his options  open. It has been six months since he  left Maytag for the last time, and since  then he has gotten to spend more time  with his family, something he said  wasn’t always possible when he was  focused on his career.

“I’m very happy with the decision I  made,” he said. “This was best for my  family, and the outpouring of support  from the community has proven that.”

The Wignalls share that sentiment.

“When we looked at the Whirlpool  corporate offices,we really liked them,”  Anne said.”We liked their schools, we  liked their company, but in the end our  roots are here. Our children are in  school here and they’re thriving and  successful.

“I don’t think we appreciated Des  Moines as much until we started thinking  about other places to live. As we  started thinking about moving, we realized  how much we loved it here.”