Yeah, there's a story behind the current message on the Davis Donuts readerboard at 4th and Appleway: "Diane held Davis together while I was out. Thank you Diane." Diane Monroe, who was embarrassed when she saw the love note Sunday, held Davis together, indeed. Since January. That's when husband Dennis fell off a dough mixer in the back room while checking wiring, and busted his hip. The Monroes, who moved from Las Vegas to Spokane a year ago and recently to the Coeur d'Alene area, bought the doughnut shop and famous readerboard in November after checking it out online last summer. The first thing they googled about the shop caused Diane to catch her breath – a readerboard message posted by then-owner Bill Todd asking for prayers for the safe return of Shasta and Dylan Groene. Half that prayer was answered at Denny's restaurant, a short distance from Davis Donuts. On Nov. 1, the Monroes took over posting messages – items culled from the Bible, customers and online. Dennis' tumble changed things, however. He was the pastry chef, not Diane. The biggest challenge was finding someone to bake doughnuts. Initially, the regular doughnut maker worked seven days a week to handle the task. Then, Dennis's brother-in-law, Bill Moore, flew out from the Midwest to help out. All because Dennis climbed the giant mixer rather than lug the ladder around one more time. Obviously, Dennis is grateful that Diane meant what she said when she agreed on that "for better or worse" clause.

DFO

---

---