Writer and historian
Coeur d’Alene native Louise Shadduck was chosen in 1990 as one of 100 Idahoans who make a difference. Appearing on the cover of the magazine published by the Idaho Centennial Homecoming Commission, with Coeur d’Alene Lake as a backdrop, Shadduck is right at home.
A celebrated journalist and historian, Shadduck is a wordsmith who has had an impact on the lives of many people.
Asked how she feels she’s made a difference, Shadduck notes her role as a public speaker.
“I think I spoke at the very first meeting of Girls’ State,” she said. “It was held at the College of Idaho and I flew home from Washington, D.C., to be there. I tell young people that they are special, and that they have an obligation to share what they’ve learned. After speaking at Girls’ State for several years, I’d run into young women who’d heard me and they’d say, ‘I remember …’ or ‘I’ll never forget …’ something I’d said. It opened my heart and mind to the influence, for good or for bad that everyone can have. We all have influence. I’ve always been relatively responsible, but I became more so when I realized that in public speaking one has a tremendous responsibility.”
She also cherishes her work as an Idaho historian.
“We’re short of historians in this state, and we haven’t recorded nearly enough history,” she said. “Every time an old-timer dies, I think, ‘There goes a book.’ We’ve lost what they know.”
In 2000, Shadduck was given the Outstanding Achievement in the Humanities award by the Idaho Humanities Council, who called her a “beloved and tireless public citizen. Her writings make Idaho history accessible to the general public.”
Shadduck is driven by her love of Idaho and her desire to record as much Idaho history as possible. She has written four books so far: “Andy Little, Idaho Sheep King,” “Doctors with Buggies, Snowshoes and Planes: 100 Years and More of Idaho Medicine,” “At the Edge of the Ice: Where Coeur d’Alene and Its People Meet, a History of Lake Coeur d’Alene,” and “Rodeo Idaho.” She is currently working on a book on Idaho pilots, and had chosen a working title of “Ten Who Flew,” but the book has grown and the title no longer fits.
She says of her writing, “I’m not satisfied with my books, with the fact that I’d really rather rush. I write in a scrambling way and I make writing too hard. It takes years to properly research a book.”
Shadduck loves Idaho.
“I was born knowing I was blessed being in this state,” she said. “The reason I’ve been able to enjoy other places is that I’ve always known this is home. Idaho is a neighborhood where everyone knows each other. There are only one million people, so if we do anything at all, we’re bound to know people. It’s an amazing state from the standpoint of how close we are in hearts and minds, even though we’re separated by miles.”
A Google search turns up four-dozen entries on Shadduck’s long and varied career, which has included a celebrated association with the National Federation of Press Women, serving as its president and being honored as the NFPW Woman of the Millennium. She has also worked as a staffer to Gov. Len Jordan, as the aide to Sen. Henry Dworshak and Congressman Orval Hansen, as Secretary of Commerce and Development for Idaho, and as executive director of Idaho Forests Industry Council. She’s also received an honorary doctorate from the University of Idaho. Her Curriculum Vitae is a single-spaced list in 8-point font, of these and an array of other honors, awards, appointments, jobs and community service posts.
Shadduck is as humble as she is wise.
“I’ve had lots of breaks in my life. For whatever reason, I’ve been in the public eye more than people who’ve done truly great things, but at every turn in the road, there’s been someone there to help me. Sometimes we don’t recognize that,” she said.
Up next on her to-do list is a booklet titled “The House that Victor Built,” about Vic Desert and his Inland Northwest empire. She’s writing it as part of a three-woman team that also includes Terri Caferro, who bought the Desert home in Spokane and is providing research, and portrait artist Marian Flavhavin.
An avid reader, Shadduck is currently enjoying “The Measure of My Days,” by Florida Scott-Maxwell. “I’m inspired by her writings about old age. Old age gets a bum rap. It is exciting! You become more of what you’ve been. You grow! You never stop growing,” said Shadduck.
For her 90th birthday celebration this October, Shadduck is planning to lead a family expedition to the Imnaha River near Enterprise and Joseph, Ore. Her great-grandfather led a wagon train, consisting of just five wagons, from the Midwest to this area across the Oregon Trail in the mid-1800s, and many of the younger family members have never made the pilgrimage.
“It’s not just a good life, it’s an amazing life,” Shadduck said. “Wonderful things happen if we’re open to them. I never had a blueprint, and if I ever planned much, I wasn’t aware of it – I just kept following opportunities. I took the next step because it was there. It’s all tied to people … and to Idaho.”