Rebecca Nappi

Clarence Dirks moved from urban Seattle to rural Camano Island in the 1940s to farm and write.
 From 1946 to 1958, he penned hundreds of newspaper columns for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer about his farming adventures and his two boys, Marty and Mike.

At the beginning of his photojournalism career in Spokane, John Kaplan took a photo of a man dressed in a bunny costume on Easter Sunday. The man’s job was to entice customers into a doughnut shop. Kaplan, then 23, followed the man into the break room, where he removed the bunny head to light up a smoke. He puffed wearily on the cigarette, his eyes a distant stare.

Immaculate Heart Retreat Center, which opened in 1959, remains frozen in time for some Catholics who did high school retreats there decades ago and haven’t returned since. For some non-Catholics, it’s frozen in the perception that the center is for Catholics only.

Mary Ann Murphy, of Spokane, has been watching older TV series recently, including “Sports Night,” which aired from 1998 to 2000. “Their opening depicted the twin towers,” she says. “It made me cry every time I saw them, so I couldn’t enjoy the show.”

The Women of Faith Conference rolls into town Friday. If you picture docile church ladies knitting sweaters while quietly listening to pious talks by pious people, change the picture.

When you glimpse the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in pre-Sept. 11 movies or television shows, it still shocks. Visitors from all over the world, including the Inland Northwest, visited or once lived near the Twin Towers. Here, they reflect on that, 10 years after the towers fell down.

In an idealized past, dutiful grown daughters took care of the needs of their aging parents, without complaint, without pay. They drove them to doctor’s appointments. They sorted out their medications. They moved frail parents into their homes and, as a last resort, found the best nursing homes for them. This was expected of “good daughters.” Meanwhile, the culture was changing.

Myles Anderson, 70, was inducted last month into the Washington Wine Hall of Fame in a ceremony at the Walter Clore Wine and Culinary Center in Prosser, Wash. Anderson, co-owner of Walla Walla Vintners, has lived in Walla Walla since 1977, but his Spokane connections run deep. He was a popular Gonzaga University administrator, and his wine is sold in Spokane’s best restaurants.

Bill Burke, 59, will oversee his 32nd Pig Out in the Park from Wednesday through Monday at Riverfront Park. This year’s Pig Out features 54 food booths, 82 bands and 225 menu items, none costing more than $8.95.

Witter Aquatic Center and A.M. Cannon Aquatic Center will stay open after Labor Day.

Gus Melonas, regional spokesman for BNSF Railway, grew up in the early 1960s in a railroad station house in Wishram, Wash. He and his twin brother walked to the park near their house to visit with the “hobos” – the men who rode the rails and lived in camps between journeys.

Larry Rider, deputy chief of Spokane Valley Fire Department, has lived his entire life within five miles of his fire-station office at 10319 E. Sprague Ave. Rider, 54, has worked for Spokane Valley Fire for 32 years, under six different chiefs.

Chuck Hennessey, a funeral director in Spokane since 1955, died at age 80.

For the past two summers, I’ve taken my great-nephews on field trips to see the evidence of the ice age floods that swept through the Inland Northwest in prehistoric times. We saw the Grand Canyon-ish Dry Falls the first summer. Then, the Niagra-like Palouse Falls the second summer.

The Relics of the Buddha tour is returning to Spokane next Friday for a three-day visit. Never heard of this tour, even though it came through town in 2007?

Tom Perko and Dee McGonigle, both 52, grew up a block from Comstock Park. They became best friends when Perko was in the sixth grade and his family moved to the 1000 block of West Comstock Court, just a skip away from the McGonigle home in the 3000 block of South Jefferson Street. The two played golf together nearly every summer day in their teen years but lost touch after graduating from Gonzaga Prep. They hadn’t connected since the late 1970s. They reunited June 30 to walk their old neighborhood.

Francis N. LaVell of Spokane dressed up for his lake excursions in the early decades of the 20th century, as his family photographs show. He fished in vest and tie at Loon Lake. Rowed in long-sleeve shirts at Liberty Lake. And while waiting for a boat on a Newman Lake dock, he wore his suit jacket.

Dr. George Rice, 75, delivered more than 3,000 babies in his 26-year medical career in Spokane. He helped the smallest among us start life and now, in his retirement, he’s looking out for our elders. He’s on the state executive council for AARP and also counsels seniors about Medicare’s prescription drug program.

My nephew, Matthew Deutsch, was coaching his son’s soccer practice in Cheney recently when the grandfather of another player asked where he’d learned the game. Matthew told the man he never had played soccer but that his father, a German immigrant, had been on Spokane’s first soccer team.

Charles Tappa, 52, of Spokane, remembers his mother always saying: “You can’t call. It’s long distance!” Long distance. So exotic. So expensive.