Huckleberries: Former CdA streets chief retired with his February magic

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.

If Patton did bras

Sadder but wiser, Katrina Swaim Wright, of Coeur d’Alene, is coming to terms with the new bra she ordered online. She knew the risk going in. Even with measurements, no two brands are the same. But she ordered anyway, eyes wide open. Afterward, she Facebooked: “Who designed this bra, General Patton? It feels like I’m wearing body armor. The Playtex Tactical Breastplate (Plus-2 Endurance; minus-3 Agility).” She was philosophical afterward, when contacted by Huckleberries: “Oh well. It will be good for holding me together on those days I feel like falling apart.” Sounds like that bra has value, after all.

Huckleberries

Poet’s Corner: Engaged on his cellphone/while driving his Beamer,/unhappily thus did/he fracture his femur (“I-90 Business Call”) – from “The Bard of Sherman Avenue: Poems by Tom Wobker” (available from The Well-Read Moose in Coeur d’Alene and Auntie’s in Spokane) … Washington poet laureate Tod Marshall tells Huckleberries that the first run of The Bard’s book has almost sold out. Tod has ordered a second run … Oopsy: That iconic World War II V-J kiss involved a sailor and a nurse not a soldier and a nurse, notes retired U.S. Navy sailor Wayne Yarroll, of Williams Valley (Deer Park area) and WWII vet Max E. Bingman of Moscow. Mea culpa …State Rep. Paul Amador, R-Coeur d’Alene, and his wife, Julie, Facebook this important political announcement: “Welcoming to the world Baby Amador Sept 2017. Huckleberries approves of this message.

Parting Shot

Another item in my 1985 column mentioned at the top today involved Betty Stone, whose husband, Ray, would run and win the first of his two mayoral terms later that year. Betty had just been named chairman of the cemetery board (and would play an instrumental role in protecting historic Forest Cemetery from privatization). Betty admitted to this columnist that she was a Stephen King fan. She had read the ghoulish “Pet Sematary.” Of course. But her favorite King novel was “Firestarter.” I should see if that’s still Betty’s favorite King novel. Ray died in June 17, 2013. But Betty is still going strong.