PF volunteer honored for community service

For the Idaho legislator living in the tiny town of Franklin next to the Utah border, the concerns of Post Falls politics might seem distant because they are distant – 500 or so miles as the bird flies.

But Marilyn Deutsch, 66, won’t let a vast geographic chasm put a stop to the desires of North Idaho towns looking for help from the state Legislature.

The Post Falls volunteer rounds up almost all the state’s lawmakers and, for the last several years, has led them on a tour of various North Idaho locales – Lewiston, Sandpoint, Coeur d’Alene and, last fall, Post Falls.

“You don’t get a voice if you don’t get the Legislature to come to the area to tour it and see what’s going on and what the issues are,” Deutsch said.

For her efforts in organizing the tours every two years – and in particular for bringing the legislators to Post Falls last November – Deutsch was given the Mayor’s Community Service Award, an annual honor bestowed on a citizen who makes a difference in the community, said Post Falls Mayor Clay Larkin.

“She keeps going on like one of those Energizer bunnies,” Larkin said of Deutsch. “She just keeps on ticking.”

Deutsch, a longtime member of both the Post Falls Chamber of Commerce and the North Idaho Chamber of Commerce, said she believes the tours are essential in furthering the region’s political agenda.

“The tours have always been tremendously successful,” she said.

In November, legislators toured the Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls areas, which brought particular joy to Deustch.

“It was really special for me because I could highlight what is really going on in this area,” she said.

People who have worked with Deutsch say she is the perfect person to take on a monumental task, such as bringing all the state’s legislators into town for a tour.

“She’s really someone who gets things done,” said Kerri Thoreson, executive director of the Post Falls Chamber of Commerce. “She’s real good at motivating people and also leading the charge. She’s been very beneficial to this community.”

Deutsch has spent more than 40 years in Post Falls, raising her children there, and she long has been active in the legislative arena.

Though she surrounds herself with political happenings, Deutsch takes a nonpartisan approach to her work, Thoreson said.

“I’ve never known her to be partisan,” she said. “She’s just been more interested in the legislative process.”

Deutsch said she was shocked to discover she had won the mayor’s award.

“I really do not know how I managed to get that in the mayor’s eyes,” she said. “To get that award was really heartwarming and very much a surprise to me.”

But Larkin, who gave Deutsch the award in January, said he couldn’t think of anyone better to receive it.

“The community is blessed to have her and all of her volunteer work,” he said. “We very much appreciate her years of service.”