Family Has Heart Of An Eagle
The year President Franklin Roosevelt launched Social Security, Coeur d’Alene’s Ray Bjornstad swore allegiance to the Fraternal Order of Eagles.
Ray was a working man looking for a working man’s club. He was a good Democrat hunting for good conversation, and a sports nut in search of the best bowling.
He found what he wanted in 1935 - and stuck with it for 63 years.
“The Eagles did a lot for me. I was selfish,” 90-year-old Ray says. “I was in it for the good time.”
Not entirely true, says Jim Bjornstad, Ray’s son and an Eagle himself.
“He taught me my work ethic. I saw him work on charities, delivered Christmas baskets all over with him,” Jim says. “My father taught me what the Eagles are all about.”
Bowling. That’s what Ray insists now. The Eagles raised so much money from its slot machines until they were banned in the 1960s that Ray bowled all-expenses-paid in several Western states.
But Jim, 53, knows from a lifetime of following his father that Ray also was hooked on the Eagles’ charitable work and donations. Community service was the spark that ignited the club a century ago. The Eagles are probably best known as the driving force behind Mother’s Day.
Jim found fellowship, satisfaction and fun with the Eagles, too. But the club means even more to him than it does to his father.
“The people there have known my folks forever,” he says. “The people make me feel so good.”
The Eagles were in their heyday when Ray joined. It was a young men’s club nearly 2,500 members strong in Kootenai County until the 1960s. As membership dropped off over the past 30 years, the average age of Coeur d’Alene’s Eagles crept to 60, helped by Ray’s loyal generation.
Jim doesn’t anticipate the end of the Eagles - about 500 people belong now - but sees the need for an infusion of younger blood. Fellowship and service should interest every age, he says.
Just look at Ray.
Swing time
If you haven’t figured out how to celebrate the end of winter, although it hardly ever started, kick up your heels at the Elegant Sentimental Journey Back to the Golden Age of Jazz and Big Bands dance in the Post Falls High gym March 14.
Music starts at 7:30 p.m. with student musicians in tuxes and vintage gowns. They’ll boogie woogie until their cheeks ache, then turn the floor over to Hewlett-Packard’s On the Side Dixieland jazz band.
This dance comes with all the right touches: red carpets, sultry singers, a mirrored ball overhead, red roses on every table.
Tickets are $12 per couple or $8 for senior couples. The money raised will help the Post Falls High band program. If the night is as fun as it sounds, don’t forget to tip.
Call 773-4854 or 773-7454 for reservations or buy tickets at the door.
Chow down
What better way to help a neighbor than to slurp down miles of spaghetti with friends? Spirit Lake found out Elmer Monigold, a volunteer ambulance driver, Old Time Fiddler and Community Center volunteer, has cancer and no insurance.
The town rallied ‘round its own, as it usually does, and organized a spaghetti dinner and raffle at the Fireside Lodge, 4-8 p.m., Friday to raise money.
The Baptist Church is collecting donations of food - spaghetti, sauce, salad, dressings, bread, vanilla ice cream, caramel topping, coffee and punch - or money to buy food.
Old Time Fiddlers and musician Rod Erickson will entertain diners. Sounds like a fine way to spend a Friday evening. Call 623-4221 for details.
Which Panhandle community has the biggest heart when it comes to helping out its residents? Give examples to Cynthia Taggart, “Close to Home,” 608 Northwest Blvd,Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene 83814; fax to 765-7149; call 765-7128; or e-mail to cynthiat@spokesman.com.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo