A Huckleberry from Feb. 17, 1985 (one of my first):

Long-time Coeur d'Alene street superintendent Reid Walker uttered a devilish laugh. "I love snow," he quipped unashamedly. For more than three decades, Walker battled inclement weather and stingy budgets trying to keep traffic moving on city streets. That ended with his retirement Dec. 31. However, he never plowed snow in February. "We always had a Chinook following a storm in February," Walker said.

Naturally, Reid's successor, Chuck Morgan, ran into his share of good-natured bantering last week when heavy snows forced the plows out for the first time ever in February. "They accused me of bringing the snow down with me," said Morgan, who used to run Boundary County's road and bridge department.

Meanwhile, Walker has enjoyed three weeks of snowmobiling and winter vacationing at his cabin on Granite Creek. Are you wondering how Reid reacted to the snows of a week ago?

"I just looked out the window and laughed," he said.

• Sam Taylor, deputy city administrator for the city of Coeur d'Alene, informs me that Reid Walker, 89, of Post Falls, died Sunday. You can read his obituary here. Photo courtesy of Bell Tower Funeral Home/Post Falls.