PORT TOWNSEND — Gold Star Marine Inc.’s owners, Jerry and Mary Lou Wentworth, have sold their full-service boat repair business to Jim Heckmann and Karen Ridings.
The Ridings are moving from Des Moines, Iowa, to take ownership of the business.
The Wentworths, who have owned the business for nine years, have decided to retire.
Heckmann was an attorney in Dubuque, Iowa, for more than 20 years, specializing in business law and consulting and mergers and acquisitions, according to a news release announcing the sale.
For the past seven years, he was the state director for the Iowa Small Business Development Centers at Iowa State University.
Ridings spent many years as a senior executive in Seattle advertising agencies, including Cole & Weber and Herring/Newman.
She was also the vice president of marketing for a technology company and marketing consultant with clients that included AT&T Wireless, Apple, Group Health Cooperative and Microsoft.
Located at 2900 Washington St., in the Port Townsend Boat Haven, Gold Star Marine is a full-service boat and yacht repair business.
