Trail Donation From Unlikely Source Retired Timber Exec With Bad Leg Gave $35,000

Unpublished correction: The name of Higgens Point is misspelled in this story. This information is from the Idaho Department of Parks & Recreation.

A former Centennial Trail opponent who never plans to use the 63-mile asphalt path was the anonymous good Samaritan who donated thousands to see it completed.

Long-time Coeur d’Alene resident Dick DeArmond, a founder of Idaho Forest Industries, gave $35,000 to end a local government stalemate over who should pay to finish the last 3.5-mile stretch through North Idaho.

He donated the money in memory of his deceased wife, who convinced him of the value of the trail that runs from Spokane to Higgins Point, southeast of Coeur d’Alene.

“It’s a pleasure to give something back to the community that has been so good to my family and me,” he said Friday.

Officials from a trail foundation, Coeur d’Alene, Kootenai County and Post Falls spent much of the past two months bickering over how to come up with $280,000 to finish the segment between Atlas Road and state Highway 41.

The money was needed to receive a pre-approved, one-time-only federal grant for $1.1 million that was set to expire in mid-July.

But Post Falls Mayor Jim Hammond said his city’s population was too small to come up with $70,000 - the same 25 percent share the others contributed. He also said Post Falls already chipped in more than that to buy easements for the trail.

Other officials, meanwhile, said that while Post Falls’ per capita share was higher, the city’s residents would get more use of the trail, which runs through the middle of Post Falls.

DeArmond said the dispute “seemed kind of silly.” He gave the money because “it would have been unforgivable to lose that grant.”

DeArmond, 68, moved to Coeur d’Alene in 1958 and started a lumber company that eventually became IFI. He recently retired.

“I wanted to show people that us lumber guys aren’t all baddies,” he joked.

In reality, DeArmond didn’t even like the idea of a trail - especially one built with public money - until his wife, Jackie, raved about it.

“I didn’t start out in favor of it, but my wife started using the existing portions and she thought it was worthwhile,” he said.

Jackie DeArmond, an avid walker, died more than two years ago - before putting many miles on the trail. DeArmond, meanwhile, has a bad leg and probably won’t use it, he said.

“But lots of other folks will,” he said.

The publicity shy DeArmond didn’t want credit for the donation, only revealing his name at the urging of Commissioner Bob Macdonald. He also declined to criticize the public officials for their infighting.

“It’s resolved now,” he said. “Best to let sleeping dogs lie.”

Coeur d’Alene Parks Director Doug Eastwood said the community came closer than many realize to not finishing the trail.

Before DeArmond’s gift “we had a better than 50-50 chance of losing the federal funds,” he said. “It was well past the 11th hour - into the 12th hour, actually.”

DeArmond’s contribution is the largest single donation ever toward the trail’s $4 million, 23-mile stretch through Idaho.

When the trail is constructed - either this winter or next spring - a plaque will be posted recognizing DeArmond’s generosity and dedicating the section to his wife, Eastwood said.

, DataTimes