Wallace Elks Celebrate 100th Year
Oh, to be 21 and belong. To hang out with the guys, walk through the doors that open only to the chosen. To be a Wallace Elk.
“Everybody was an Elk,” says Jim Lynn, smiling wistfully at old photos filled with fading faces, horn-rimmed glasses and overcoats. “When you turned 21, if your dad was an Elk, you were an Elk. It was something that carried on.”
In Wallace, it’s carried on through a century of wars, mine disasters, labor strikes, booms and busts.
The red brick lodge on Cedar Street has been the place to forget the rest of the world and dance with best friends, and the place where Wallace’s men find ways to improve the world.
Their dues have gone toward scholarships and youth awards, Christmas baskets and drug awareness programs, hoop shoots and parties for kids.
They pledge charity, justice, brotherly love and fidelity in rituals that shake the nerves and awaken the competitive urge in all of them.
“It’s funny how grown men can get so involved,” Jim says, with a chuckle. He knows about involvement. Since 1965, the dentist has been the Wallace lodge’s exalted ruler twice, state president, and he’s spent 20 years coordinating youth programs.
Jim saw his lodge peak at 1,200 brothers a few years before the mines closed in 1981. Since then, many young men have left the valley, their need for work more immediate than their desire to belong.
Only 500 Elks remain in the Wallace lodge this year. Most are nearing retirement. Women can join now, which pleases Jim. His lodge’s reputation as Wallace’s benefactor depends on member dues, and money knows no gender.
“The Elks will not die in Wallace,” Jim says with conviction. “We have a small enough city. Someone will always have the answer to keep it going.”
Warm wishes
Coeur d’Alene’s Janis Houghton ached for the Scottish families whose kindergartners were killed by a crazed gunman two months ago. So Janis asked Teri Burch, her daughter’s kindergarten teacher at Fernan Elementary, to help her show her sympathy.
Teri explained to her young students that people were sad because their kids had gotten hurt. Her students asked no questions. They just wanted to make people feel better.
The children drew pictures on cloth squares that Janis sewed into a quilt. The kids drew faces and houses, fish and rainbows, hearts and clouds. Janis sewed a sunshine yellow border around the quilt and backed it with material covered with a bright jumble of children’s faces.
Fernan mothers Rosalie Jacobs, Jeanette Anchondo and Jeannie Bemis helped Janis pull the work together and Warren Golden helped bankroll the project.
The class mailed the quilt to the Dunblane Primary School last week with a plaque expressing their sympathy. From little kids with great big hearts…
Take a chance
Why try to build a playhouse for the kiddies when a dollar raffle ticket could win you one built by the pros? Wishing Star will sell the tickets Saturday through May 19 at Coeur d’Alene’s Target store.
Remote possibilities
With two daughters in high school, I’m always searching for college scholarship opportunities. I’ve found scholarships based on achievement, heritage, parent’s occupation, church and club affiliations, number of siblings, number of step-parents…
What weird scholarship did you or your children win? Fill in the blanks for Cynthia Taggart, “Close to Home,” 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene 83814; FAX to 765-7149; or call 765-7128.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Photos (1 Color)