Longtime Nordic Skier Ahead Of Trend
Evelyn Huender’s neighbors scratched their heads when they saw her on skis on the flat snowy neighborhood streets.
“‘What are you doing?’ they asked me. I told them I was skiing, but they said, ‘Shouldn’t you be in the hills?”’ Evelyn says. “Back in 1970, not too many people around here had cross-country skis.”
Apparently she wasn’t as wacko as her neighbors thought. Now, every snowfall produces herds of cross-country skiers gliding and puffing like steam engines through golf courses, parks, even downtowns.
The crowds don’t bother Evelyn. She loves her sport so much that she puffs with pride over its acceptance by Americans.
“Now everyone wants to do it,” she says. The soft Norwegian lilt in her speech matches her sport perfectly. “I think people are getting more health-conscious - and now they know about the sport.”
Evelyn wasn’t health-conscious when she began skiing. Everyone in her southern Norway home skied as soon as they could stand.
“I can’t even remember when I started,” she says. “I just did what everyone else was doing.”
She was young enough to confuse the hard work it took to power her skis with fun. Skis took her to school, to Lillehammer for spring vacation, to friends’ homes.
Evelyn left Norway in 1961 for California but couldn’t bear the lack of seasons. She and her husband visited Coeur d’Alene in 1970 and knew they’d found home.
Cross-country ski trails weren’t developed in the area then, but Evelyn and her friends cut their own. Her addiction to fresh air, exercise euphoria, the peace and beauty of the woods was contagious.
In 1988, four avid skiers formed the Panhandle Nordic Club to ski together, groom trails and promote the sport. Evelyn joined a year later, helped develop a trail system throughout North Idaho and smiled as her beloved sport climbed in popularity.
Now, 50 families belong to the club and many more use the trails Evelyn and club members dutifully tend.
“A lot of people say skiing’s a lot of work. It’s true,” says Evelyn, who’s 59. “But I love it.”
Good guys
Coeur d’Alene mailman Pete LaMarca made Santa proud last month. Pete brought cookies to a couple on his route after he learned the husband had had a heart attack Dec. 5 shoveling snow. The couple’s adult daughter had tried to help with shoveling but she’d just had shoulder surgery.
The day Pete visited, his truck got stuck in the couple’s driveway and he broke his key off in the ignition. The couple wasn’t home so Pete ate the cookies while he waited for a tow truck.
He returned to their home later with his snowblower and cleared their driveway of snow.
The couple doesn’t want their name used because they’re temporarily disabled. But the wife says, “Pete’s a real Christmas angel as far as we’re concerned.”
St. Maries’ Vernon and Heidy Baker needed an angel when snow sliding off their roof piled so deep on their deck that they couldn’t see out their living room windows.
Spokane’s Dick Shanks saved the day by hiring some men to shovel for the Bakers and a plow to free their access road. Then he bought North Idaho’s Medal of Honor recipient a snowmobile. He wins Close to Home’s Nice Guy Award for 1996.
Worse than I said
Remember Lori Lochelt, North Idaho’s AIDS prevention and care coordinator? She says 490 people in Idaho are HIV positive or have AIDS. Somehow, I left the nine out of that number when her story ran Dec. 27.
What mistakes have you made that led to funny, disturbing or even dangerous ends? Admit them to Cynthia Taggart, “Close to Home,” 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814; fax to 765-7149; call 765-7128; or e-mail to cynthiat@spokesman.com.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo