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Bierlink likes small town living
Growing up with an identical twin provided Amanda Bierlink a constant friend, confidant and playmate. Born in Portland, Ore., Bierlink was supposed to be a Washington native, but with twins, things do not always go as the doctor predicts.
“We were born while my parents were on vacation,” explained Bierlink.
Her parents, Brad and Phyllis Bierlink, originally from Quincy and Hill City, Idaho, respectively, lived in the Seattle area at the time their doctor OK’d the trip to Portland.
“My mom had a month to go on her pregnancy and the doctor thought the trip would be no problem,” she said.
It all worked out and when the twins, Amanda and Jill (now Jill Wyatt) were 3, the family moved to Quincy.
Bierlink, older by eight minutes, has a younger brother named Scott. Both of her siblings are married and Bierlink has two nephews, Trey and Pierce, from her brother’s family.
“We never switched places and weren’t really rebellious,” said Bierlink of her formative years. “Being a twin was for the most part a good thing; I always had a friend and we did everything together.”
When they were small, Bierlink’s mother dressed them in like outfits of different colors; however, the twins did pull a switch later in life.
“About three or four years ago, when Jill was teaching a second-grade class, we tried to trick her students,” said Bierlink. “Jill teaches north of Spokane and I went into her classroom dressed as she was and my hair was the same.”
The second-graders were suspicious of her after a few minutes and one guessed she was a twin.
Athletic since high school, the 1997 Quincy graduate played intramural basketball at Whitworth College in Spokane and played in Hoopfest for the past 10 years. Bierlink graduated with a degree in business management. As well as sharing a love of basketball, Bierlink’s family also favors her alma mater. Both of her siblings graduated from Whitworth, Scott with the same degree as her and Jill with a degree in elementary education.
After college graduation, Bierlink worked for an insurance firm in Moses Lake, then at an accounting office in Idaho. She is now an administrative assistant at the Quincy Columbia Basin Irrigation District.
“I oversee accounting and payroll clerks and keep the water service contracts up-to-date,” Bierlink said.
Bierlink loves living just out of the city limits and recently bought land next to her parents’ farm where she plans to build a one-story rancher of her own.
“It’s a long process to get all the permits,” she said of the stage she is in with the building progress. “I plan on staying in the Quincy area,” she added, “and I would like to start a family someday.”
Spare time for Bierlink includes trips to visit her college roommate in Montana and friends in Idaho. She finds herself in the Spokane area often to visit her twin and enjoys being outside and hiking.
For the past three years, Bierlink coached the seventh-grade girls’ basketball team at Quincy Junior High.
She is an avid reader who enjoys suspense and mystery novels and Christian romances.
The Bierlink family attends the Quincy Free Methodist Church, where Bierlink plays piano for the congregation once a month.
“My dad majored in music in college,” she said and added that the whole family can sing.
Bierlink’s parents are crop farmers.
“While growing up, I worked on the farm,” said Bierlink.
She started working when she was in elementary school, rolling small bales on the ends of the rows for 5 cents a bale.
“I rolled bales so that the tractor could turn the corner without hitting a bale and pulling weeds around the farm,” said Bierlink.
“I also started changing water a young age. I came home every summer from college and worked. I did everything from changing water, to swathing, raking, baling and stacking hay, disking, plowing, spraying weeds and helping with the finances. For the most part, I always enjoyed working on the farm and was glad that I always had a job to come home to if I needed it,” she said.
“I like living in a small town and knowing a lot of people,” Bierlink said. She enjoys the space that the country has to offer.
