Times-News writer

TWIN FALLS - Sue McLimans and Michele Gardoski share at least two things in common.

Both became sole owners of businesses in Twin Falls after divorcing their ex-husbands. And as women who own businesses, they are part of a growing group, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration, which found that:

•Women-owned businesses increased 20 percent from 1997 to 2002, the last year for which numbers have been reported, to 6.5 million.

•More than 14 percent of those firms employed 7.1 million workers and had $173.7 billion in annual payroll.

Gender hasn't been an issue for Gardoski, owner of Michele's Marky's Auto Body at 21404 U.S. Highway 30, about two miles west of Twin Falls.

"I order the guys around. I have an awesome crew," she said of her four employees. "They're as much friends as they are employees."

McLimans, owner of Bekins-Ford Transfer & Storage at 217 Wall St., views her seven full-time and two part-time employees the same way. They have all bowled on a league team together. And all of them recently went to Hawaii for the wedding of Kelsey McLimans, who works with his mom.

"Everybody treats everybody else like family," Sue McLimans said.

The moving and storage company's office - designed and decorated by office manager Sindy Parker â€" even has the feel of a family room. Toys belonging to Kinley Hansing, McLimans' 15-month-old granddaughter, are scattered in the office among the three desks, a round conference table and comfortable leather chairs. And Dexter, a yellow Labrador retriever, eagerly greets visitors.

"Grandma gets the dog," McLimans said, adding that it belongs to her son, Shannon, a sergeant in the National Guard who is stationed at Fort Huachuca in Arizona.

In her divorce settlement, Gardoski got the business she had run with her ex-husband since 2002. "I told him that's what I wanted," she said.

She keeps the books and answers phones at the shop, where her crew can paint up to four cars at once and can complete auto-body repairs on another four or five vehicles. The shop also has room to repair and paint semi-tractors and motor homes.

The shop lost some its customer base after the divorce, she said, because her ex-husband took over the towing business they had run together on Kimberly Road.

"I'm having to rebuild it all over again," she said.

She sees running an auto-body shop as a way to provide a service to customers who have often been involved in accidents.

"I just want to be there to help," she said. "People think you're here to rip them off. It really bothers me."

McLimans, who also sees running her business as a way to serve people, has built up a base of regular customers.

"They don't even think of moving something," she said. "They call us."

Her company receives everything from toilets to signs when new businesses locate in Twin Falls and need temporary storage space.

"We (also) move a lot of pianos," she said. "I think our record was 26 pianos in one day."

McLimans arrived for work one day this past week in a golf shirt, shorts and flip-flops. In the past, she has worked in the engineering department at what was then Pacific Bell Telephone in California, been a customer-service supervisor at JC Penney in Twin Falls and taught General Educational Development classes at the College of Southern Idaho.

She moved with her family to Twin Falls in 1990, when her then-husband took a job at Universal Foods before it was acquired by Lamb Weston Inc.

They bought the moving and storage business in 1993. "We knew nothing," McLimans said as a train whistle sounded outside.

She took over the business after the divorce became final in 2003.

"His lawyer kept saying, 'You don't want the business,' " said McLimans, who decided otherwise.

"My kids all freaked," she said.

Her children - Shannon, 28, Kelsey, 25, and Mallory McLimans, 22 - grew up around the business.

"I'll go with Kelsey on the rides sometimes," McLimans said. "There's always small stuff that everybody can handle."

The rest of her time is spent estimating how much it will cost to do jobs and keeping on top of the business, which consists of three warehouses, two semi-tractors, four trailers, two smaller trucks and a van. The business will typically have about 35 moving jobs per month in the summer, which is the busy season.

"This year we have worked year round," McLimans said.

When she isn't working, she volunteers at a soup kitchen and serves as a Twin Falls Area Chamber of Commerce Ambassador and Optimist Club member.

"That's what my day's like," she said as her phone started ringing shortly after 8 a.m. "I'm out and about."

Idaho businesses owned by women: How many: 28,824 in 2002, up 11.9 percent since 1997. Growth rate national ranking: 38th. Sales receipts: $3.2 billion in 2002, up 22.4 percent since 1997 when adjusted for inflation. Growth rate national ranking: 7th. - Source:U.S. Small Business Administration