Tributes: Darlene Ferrians lived her life involved with others
Darlene Ferrians was a force to be reckoned with. If something needed to happen, she made it happen.
Ferrians was born Darlene Dugger in April 1942, in St. Maries, and spent her entire life in North Idaho. Her parents moved the family to Coeur d’Alene while she was still a youngster, where she attended Coeur d’Alene High School and made many lifelong friends. They speak of how “involved” she always was – if there was a birthday party in the works, or any kind of get-together, she was the go-to girl. Thus her leadership skills surfaced early in life, and she became known as an organizer. That trait defined her life of service, as she immersed herself fully in the various activities that spanned her lifetime.
Ferrians died July 29. She was 65.
She grew up in the “muscle car” era and fell in love with the power and excitement of a big engine. In high school, it was more important to work on the car than her studies, and she was dauntless in her driving skills on the racetrack at Deer Park.
Drag racing was a passion, and she never lost her thrill at a fast quarter-mile.
A classmate, Cindy Korff, wrote, “The year was 1963 and life was so carefree in Coeur d’Alene, there were drags at Deer Park, car clubs, tooling Sherman, the Arctic Circle, The Boat, Toppers and Paul Bunyan. Darlene was always at the center of it – and what an organizer. She started the first girls’ car club in town, ‘The Duchesses.’ I still have my pink and black jacket. She was loyal, dependable and such fun.” She was a popular car-hop at both the Paul Bunyan and the Boat drive-ins, good places for teens to mingle and show off their wheels, her own 1940 Ford included.
At the high school she was an energetic member of the Vikettes drill team, entertaining the crowds at ball games and parades. She made up for her earlier missed studies, too, when as an adult she joined her mother in attending NIC, both earning their GEDs.
Ferrians had two marriages early in life. Each ended in divorce but blessed her with sons. She raised her boys, Rick Cook and Dell Shockley, in a day when being a single mother was not commonplace.
But Cook said it never stopped her from being a great mom who set an example of hard work and good times together for them. For one thing, she loved doing the same kinds of things they loved. She loved baseball, fishing and camping as much as they did. Cook explained, “She would spend the week preparing for camp, then on Friday night she’d be home at 5 and we’d be on our way to Robinson Lake, up close to Canada, by 5:30. Two hours later we’d be sitting at the campfire telling jokes and laughing.”
He also spoke of how she would work behind the scenes all year long to “make Christmas truly golden” for her sons.
A point of pride in her life was that in 1974 she bought a brand new Ford pick-up with 4-wheel drive – somehow a talisman of her independence and capability. Trips to the woods, not only for camping but to cut and gather firewood, didn’t faze her – she relished them.
She went to work for the phone company as an operator, which turned into a career that spanned 32 years. During that time she helped organize the Communication Workers of America uion, for which she served as president and vice president. While she was organizing the union she became acquainted with another organizer in Chelan and Wenatchee, Jim Ferrians. They became fast friends, discovering many points in common. When she was here drag racing, he was in the Tri-Cities racing stock cars. When she was playing women’s softball here, he was coaching a women’s team there.
The couple married at the Fort Sherman Chapel on June 7, 1986. Cook said those years with Jim were the best his mother ever knew. The Ferrians camped and fished, shopped and sold antiques, planned their retirement travels, watched their grandchildren play ball.
Jim Ferrians fondly remembers, “She was the rude grandmother with the air horn and megaphone who didn’t hesitate to yell at the ump.” He said she even planted flowers around their favorite campsites and put jack-o’-lanterns around their hunting camp in October. It amazed the hunters when she and her friend, Audrey, turned out a complete Thanksgiving dinner right there in camp.
Darlene Ferrians had several “girlfriend groups” with whom she played cards, celebrated birthdays, traveled, made crafts, cooked, shopped and laughed.
She served the city of Hayden through 12 years on the City Council. She wasn’t one to “just go along” with the crowd, and really tried to tune in to the concerns of the citizens. As a fiercely proud North Idaho native, she wanted to be a voice for the native families, and to direct the growth for the good of all.
In June she was named Hayden’s first Citizen of the Year, in recognition and gratitude for her many contributions. Cook says of her leadership, “I have never known anyone who could tell the difference between what was truly right and what was truly wrong like she could. And it didn’t take her a long time to figure it out.”
It seems ironic that a person with such open and out-going ways would meet a foe that attacks women with insidious stealth. Ovarian cancer does not manifest with a show of symptoms to alert the victim or the physician. The motto, “It whispers – so listen,” appears on turquoise wrist bands, dozens of which Ferrians purchased and distributed during her illness.
Her husband said, “Even though she was scared on the inside, she was still reaching out to others, doing what she could to teach and inform.”
Her battle ended on July 29. Shortly before her death she was able to take one last ride with her family, watching a magnificent lightning storm as it traveled north through the North Idaho landscape she loved so much. That was a gift for them all.