Kind and caring

Dan and Vicky Frickle think nothing of carving dozens of pumpkins for the neighborhood to enjoy every Halloween. And when a neighbor was hospitalized for nearly two weeks, Dan Frickle thought nothing of heading over to mow, weed and water the lawn.

“It just made sense,” he said.

The Frickles have been named the winners of The Spokesman-Review’s Valley Good Neighbor contest, an honor that baffles them. “I was just really surprised,” he said.

Kathy Morse and her husband, Lonnie, nominated the Otis Orchards couple.

“I’ve lived in a lot of different houses over the years,” Kathy Morse said. “I’ve never found anyone as kind and as caring as the Frickles.”

The couples disagree on which of them deserves the honor. Vicky Frickle said it is the Morses. “It was a couple times ago that we turned them in,” she said. “They’re the cool neighbors.” But Kathy Morse disagrees. “I think they do a lot more than we ever did,” she said. “Some of the things they think of to do I would never think of.”

The Frickles are known far and wide as the “pumpkin people,” a name that is richly deserved. Last year they carved 154 pumpkins, some of them grown in their back yard. The tradition dates back about 16 years. Dan Frickle takes time off work to do the job. Family and friends show up to help with the task. “It’s kind of a tradition to have a pumpkin carving party,” Vicky Frickle said. “We have pizza, and it’s just this big party.”

The hundreds of visitors who show up every year to look at the carving extravaganza never know what they will find. Carvings have ranged from hockey team logos to classic cars. “The ideas come from a lot of different places,” Dan Frickle said. “I draw on them, and everybody else carves them. We start a week in advance. The pumpkins don’t last much longer.”

Morse, usually among those helping with the carving, appreciates all the effort the Frickles put into the annual show. “They spend days and days and days and a lot of their own money just so people can see them.”

The Frickles are known for sharing produce from their garden and for knowing everyone in the neighborhood. Over the years they’ve thrown barbecues when new neighbors moved in. This year they did work on their back yard so it could be included in the Liberty Lake Garden Tour.

The couple is also adored by the Morse grandchildren. “When our grandkids are here they’re always over there picking raspberries and borrowing videos,” Kathy Morse said. “They feel like (the Frickles) are their second grandparents.”

The Frickles are pleased that generosity isn’t a one way street in their neighborhood. They are particularly fond of the Christmas cookie exchanges. “It’s infectious,” she said. “People do good things because someone else started it.”

They’re about to start something else. The Frickles plan to put a pool in their back yard, and the Morses are delighted that they are also planning to put a gate in the fence between their yards so the Morse family can use it anytime. “That’s the plan,” Dan Frickle said. “If we put in a pool, it’s going to be a neighborhood pool. We want people to use it.”

As Kathy Morse wrote in the last line of her nominating letter, “Are these great neighbors or what?”