IN PROFILE: Judith Ostermiller
BUSINESS: Owner Lighthouse Gift Shop
AGE: 67
BACKGROUND: “I’m a retired registered nurse. I spent 25 years working in the Department of Corrections, 15 of those years were in Nevada. I was psychiatric nurse.”
FIRST JOB: “I started babysitting when I was 10 and found my true vocation when I was in high school where I worked first as a candy-striper. In my senior year, I worked as a nurse’s aid and went on to nursing school after I graduated.”
YEARS IN BUSINESS: “I have lived in Pahrump since 2001 and opened Lighthouse Gift Shop first in the old Skate Zone and then with a group of other vendors in the swap meet across from Big O Tires before I moved to the strip mall on Highway 372.
“I’ve been active with the local charity organizations with donations, discounts and helping them with raffle prizes.”
PERSONAL: “My weirdest hobby is handguns and marksmanship. In Montana, I competed with the state marksmanship team for five years and qualified for the Olympics, but decided to get married instead.”
BUSINESS CLIMATE: “The potential to do a good business in Pahrump is great if people just know where you are located. We’ve found a new marketing tool of outside displays which can be seen from the road and have attracted different types of clientele to the store. We also offer good services as well and gift-wrapping is free. I’m a big believer is shopping locally to keep revenues here instead of going into Las Vegas. The services are here, you just have to look for them.”
