Reed Returns To Rural Roots

Linda Reed, longtime community activist, took up the mayor’s gavel in Clark Fork this month.

It’s typical of her generous spirit that in her first public speech, she not only thanked outgoing council members, but also their significant others.

“What a lot of people don’t understand is that council members need the support of their spouses,” Reed said when honoring Ruth Martinosky, wife of former Mayor Ambrose “Andy” Martinosky.

After almost twenty years in the public arena, as both mayor and council member, Martinosky now will sit in the audience during council meetings, perhaps in the same chair where Linda Reed started her political life.

“I just sat there at the City Council meetings and listened to them and thought that might be fun,” Reed said. “I thought I could help some and help the town.”

For many years Reed has helped out at the Senior Center in Clark Fork.

Although not a senior, bylaws allow her to sit on the board as treasurer. “I’m good at numbers,” she said, “although my fingers sometimes dance on the wrong keys.”

These days her commitments at the Senior Center and her new responsibilities as mayor keep Reed busy. “It’s pretty hard to catch me,” she said.

One way to catch Reed is in the pre-dawn light when, suitably attired for the weather, she takes her morning constitutional. She also keeps fit by shoveling snow in winter and mowing lawns in summer. All this exercise ensures that she can tuck nicely into the fancy turn-of-the-century gown she wears yearly in Clark Fork’s popular Fourth of July parade.

Reed and her husband Kenny have been married twenty-five years. They spent many of those early years away from Clark Fork. “You can’t live here and make a living in construction,” she said. When Kenny retired, they moved back to a two-story white house with a wrap-around porch and volunteered for the Bonner County Historical Museum.

Kenny Reed, who spent his younger years underground in many of the local mines, is a veritable storehouse of information. His uncle, Joe Reed, started the Lawrence Mine on Antelope Mountain, built up a mill, and successfully separated a fine grade of silver from the lead-silver ore.

Kenny Reed’s father, Bart, came here in 1905. Seven years later, Kenny was born in a Spokane hospital.

“I’m one of the old timers,” he said.

Linda Reed, while not originally from Clark Fork, is an Idaho native. She grew up in small towns throughout the state.

“I never lived in Coeur d’Alene,” she said. “I wouldn’t know what to do in a town that big. Nobody knows who to call for help. If anyone has a problem here in Clark Fork, they know who to call. Anybody here will drop everything to help someone else. Show me a big town where they do that.”

Although he lost the recent election, Martinosky has no plans to become invisible. “I’ll keep involved, I’ll say my piece,” he said, but added with a chuckle: “I’ll refer those phone calls I used to get to the new mayor.”

Martinosky knows all about phone calls. He first ran for mayor after a turbulent year which saw this town of 450 bitterly divided over the newly paved roads. Residents were divided over whether to foot the bill for pavement. Then, once the roads were in, people couldn’t agree whether the work had been done properly.

The mayor who initiated the road work lost to Martinosky by four votes and eventually moved out of town. Martinosky went on to serve as mayor for eight years, bringing his own quiet brand of mediation to the office.

Reed, on the other hand, speaks her mind.

“Everybody knows that,” she said. They also know she has a sense of humor and a heart of gold. All essential qualities for mayor of this unique small town.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

MEMO: Susan Saxton D’Aoust is a free-lance writer and author who lives in Clark Fork. Panhandle Pieces appears every Saturday. The column is shared among several North Idaho writers.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Susan Saxton D’Aoust Correspondent