My tenure at The Spokesman-Review overlapped Reid Walker’s career with the city of Coeur d’Alene by almost four months. At 55, he retired as city streets director on Dec. 31, 1984. Six weeks later, almost 32 years from today, I devoted an item in my column to Reid. You see, his replacement, Chuck Morgan, had to call out the snow plows to clear the streets of heavy snow. In February. So what? You say. During Reid’s three decades with the city, he told this columnist that streets crews never plowed in February. It snowed in February back in those days, of course. With Reid at the helm of the Streets Department, however, a warming Chinook always followed. When it snowed enough to call out the plows in February 1985, the old-timers chided the new guy for bringing the snow with him when he transferred from the road and bridge department of Boundary County (Bonners Ferry). Reid Walker, meanwhile, had spent the first weeks of his retirement snowmobiling from his Granite Creek cabin. How did Reid react to the heavy snows that February? He told this columnist: “I just looked out the window and laughed.” Reid Walker, 89, died Sunday, Feb. 12/DFO, Tuesday Huckleberries. More here.

---

---