Marina held a boatload of memories

Pecky Cox first found Priest Lake in 1977 as a teen through a student exchange program. Her home was Mexico City, but in 1989, with toddler-age children, she began visiting Priest Lake for vacation for several weeks every summer. In 2003 she returned to stay and fulfill a lifelong yearning for the lake. With a love of photography and the desire to write, she founded “As The Lake Churns,” an online magazine focused on Priest Lake and the surrounding area.

“It’s been like watching a favorite relative’s health fail for years until the ultimate demise.”

This is one of the many comments heard around Priest Lake. One of the biggest changes is the destruction and removal of a favorite landmark, Bishop’s Marina at Coolin. The marina was built shortly after World War I, and has gone through several owners and transformations.

As of a week or so ago, the entire main building has evaporated beneath the pounding and chewing of modern machinery. Local “Buzzie” Welch called it “a landmark at the foot of the Lake” carried away to make room for an unknown replacement.

There are waves of local sentiment and sadness about the removal, despite the fact that everyone knows that it was merely a useless remnant of days gone by. Like an ultimate demise … it is still painful. There are many who are happy about moving onward and upward … but to what?

The “corporate” controllers have been exceptionally tight-lipped about what will arise from the ashes, even to the point of complaining about a local webcam that was aimed at the construction site. The “old” Bishop’s Marina carries a boatload of memories for many. Whatever rises from the ashes will be lucky to do as well.

Last year Priest Lake residents went through the same “knot in the throat” with the news that local edifice, Kaniksu Resort, was selling to become a private condo complex. Memories of dances at the old boathouse and youthful adventures were shared among those of us who remembered the “old days.” Scores of RV site renters were displaced, with understandable anger. But, the bottom line was, the land, the value, and the pressure of a fair return for that value demanded a change.

At a gathering of lake “old-timers” it was a real hoot to hear the adventures of “slightly aging” guys telling the stories of their dancing, brawling, and partying on the premises of Kaniksu. Again, the sands of time will cover everything except memories. Any time there is a meeting of Priest Lake people the conversation soon turns into a sort of competition of when they started coming to Priest Lake. On and on: “my parents came in 1941!” – “our cabin was built in 1921,” etc.

Change is painful, and no one likes change except a wet baby. Kris Runberg’s book, “Pioneer Voices of Priest Lake,” contains wonderful tales of the past. We just need to make sure the future is just as good. Nothing is lost, it is simply becoming a part of history, as the lake churns.