Kellogg honored for time in House

BOISE – Spurred by Coeur d’Alene Rep. Bob Nonini, the Idaho House of Representatives unanimously passed a proclamation Wednesday in honor of longtime Post Falls legislator Hilde Kellogg, who retired last year.

“No one can say her age slowed her legislative pace or that her physical infirmities compromised her … forceful representation of the issues of her district,” said Nonini, who replaced Kellogg as a District 5 representative this year.

Legislators will further honor the former lawmaker Friday, which has been declared Hilde Kellogg Day in the House.

“Good grief,” said Kellogg, 86. “I would have told them not to do it if I had known. … It’s really very touching.”

During her 10 terms in the Legislature, Kellogg championed improvements to U.S. Highway 95 and redistribution of a sales tax formula to recognize growth areas in North Idaho, the proclamation states.

“I didn’t do it for fame,” she said of her time in the Legislature. “I did it for my constituents. It was something I loved to do.”

The proclamation noted that when dog racing was still legal, the mechanical pace rabbit at the Greyhound Park in Post Falls was named after Kellogg. So when the dogs came down the stretch they were greeted with the call, “Here comes Hilde,” Nonini said proudly.

Kellogg moved to North Idaho from Grand Island, Neb., in the late 1950s. She served as president and board member of the Post Falls Chamber of Commerce, president of the YMCA and chairwoman of the Post Falls Planning and Zoning Commission.

She first served in the Legislature from 1983 until 1990, when she was defeated by Barbara Chamberlain. Kellogg was back in 1993.

When Kellogg retired, she urged Nonini to run for her District 5 seat.