Cda Couple Making Contributions Of Note

Larry and Sharon Strobel left Coeur d’Alene High addicted, with nowhere to turn.

The school system had tantalized them with music, taught them to play instruments, filled them with a craving to make music. Then it pushed them into an adult world where bands and orchestras were for professionals only.

“If I could’ve made a living playing French horn in Coeur d’Alene, I wouldn’t have packed mail for 40 years,” Larry says, loosening the collar on his postal blues.

Larry was lucky enough to snag a spot in the National Guard band in Spokane in 1960. It kept him in music and close to Sharon, whom he’d just met.

But Sharon didn’t have much of a musical outlet. She played piano or flute in duets with Larry. It wasn’t enough to inspire her to practice.

“I did just enough to keep from getting rusty,” she says. “I needed a reason to practice.”

She had to wait until 1972. A friend wanted to start a community band. Fifty basement musicians showed for the first rehearsal and the North Idaho Symphonic Band was born. Its sibling, the North Idaho Symphony, soon followed.

“That first rehearsal was such a nice feeling,” Sharon says, indulging herself in the memory.

A few years later when the Strobels put out the call for musicians for a one-parade-a-year marching band - the Perfectionots - dozens responded. The group practiced once, marched in crazy costumes, played well and was a hit. It grew into a Fourth of July tradition.

“It became something we never dreamed of,” Larry says with a laugh.

Former Mayor Ray Stone called on the Strobels when he decided the city needed a band in 1988. He envisioned the strains of Sousa and Strauss in City Park on Sundays. He even found a little money to pay each musician - $5 per rehearsal, $7 per performance.

Now, the band fulfills its musicians as much as it pleases audiences. It performs marches and show tunes free three times each summer in a state-of-the-art bandshell with Lake Coeur d’Alene as background. Its next performance is at 5 p.m. today.

“Our lives would be much less without all this,” Larry says. Sharon nods emphatically. “When you live in a community, it’s nice to contribute something valuable and I think we have.”

Lonnggg swim

Sandpoint’s Eric Ridgway thought a group swim in Lake Pend Oreille would be a kick. He invited the world last year expecting little response. But 77 people showed up to swim two miles along Sandpoint’s Long Bridge with Eric.

Eric’s scheduled another Long Bridge swim for Saturday. He bills it as a race but warns people that the prizes are not of great material value. He just wants to have fun and earn some bragging rights. Lake Pend Oreille is no kiddie pool…

The swim starts at 9 a.m. at the south end of the bridge and ends at Dog Beach. Eric says the more wetsuits and fins the better. If you don’t swim, take a megaphone and cheer on the group from the bridge where you’ll be able to see the whole race. For details, call 265-5412.

Blue ribbon response

The Coeur d’Alene Fire Department was mighty pleased with some of the employees at Washington Water Power earlier this month. WWP manager Randy Chandler called 911 to report that a man had had a heart attack in front of the building.

The man was in his car in the middle of traffic when help arrived. Randy helped move him. WWP’s Liz St. Mark, Jim Cane and Jim Pope controlled traffic and other WWP workers comforted the man’s wife and granddaughter.

“These people played a key role in the survival of this person,” emergency techs John Janke and Dave Dodson wrote to WWP.

What emergency brought out the best in you or a friend? Spill the details to Cynthia Taggart, “Close to Home,” 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene 83814; fax to 765-7149; or call 765-7128.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo