Wider Horizons

The story of Darrell and Jody Bohle, the owners of Bel-Aire Welding Ltd. in Lethbridge, is not just a story of aDarrell and Jody Bohle smart business partnership. It is also a love story – one with all of the fire and sparks you’d expect in the welding world.

The couple’s business has been providing welding services to southern Alberta for 23 years and is home to the region’s only PythonX, a robotic plasma cutting system that, simply put, “eats steel like butter.”

From the very beginning, when they started with only their credit card and a welder they towed with their car, they knew it would take their hardest work and most committed community engagement to build their business.

The love story is evident within moments of meeting the two. “We met at a hockey rink in Fort MacLeod when I was 12 and he was 15,” says Jody Bohle with a smile. “I knew right away,” continues Darrell Bohle. “As soon as I saw her, I thought that is who I want to spend the rest of my life with. I fall in love with her more every day.”

They work together with their team – some of whom have been working at Bel-Aire for more than 15 years – on everything from small repairs to residential projects to full-scale building renovations and new builds. An essential part of their business is supporting the community, including Lethbridge College. “It’s every business owner’s responsibility to give back, to try to work in and with the community,” says Darrell Bohle. “And we wouldn’t be where we are today if we hadn’t attended the college,” adds Jody.

Their support translated into a $50,000 gift to the college to create the Bel-Aire Virtual Welding Room in the college’s new trades and technologies facility (see story on page 45). The new facility will be “transformational,” Darrell Bohle says, “and we want to contribute to that transformation by enhancing the training of welders.”

Wider Horizons
Lisa Kozleski
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