Dedicated public servant
Former Mayor Don Kamps helped shape city into what it is today
Don Kamps was a man of many hats to many people.
He was known as a civic-minded leader with a wealth of community knowledge. Throughout his lifetime, Kamps worked in numerous occupations in and around the River City, including as a newspaper delivery boy and as a local businessman, while always trying to preserve the town’s heritage.
Many knew Kamps as a community representative. The successful businessman entered into the public service arena as a city councilman and served on the Planning and Zoning Commission, and then took office as Post Falls’ second elected mayor, where he served from 1972 until 1976.
And of course there was the literal hat – the fedora he regularly wore around town. Kamps died Oct. 7 at the age of 92.
“He was just a very special gentleman,” Mayor Clay Larkin said. “(Don Kamps was) quiet, really cared about the community, and not only during his term as mayor but always after that. He would see and say ‘Well, how are things going?’ and ‘Do you think the city is going in the right direction?’ ”
Kamps, the youngest of seven brothers born in Niobe, N.D., before moving to North Idaho in 1919, is remembered as a strong voice for the community in an era when today’s sprawling city was only in its formative years. To many of his friends and neighbors, he was a stalwart defender for planning a well-thought-out Post Falls for future generations.
For example, as the area population continued to grow in the ’60s and ’70s, Kamps and a group of others had the foresight to call for a sewer system in place of septic tanks, and he recommended the city add a Greens Ferry interchange at the same time that the interstate was being built, which bisected the heart of the downtown area.
“He and other business leaders were worried about the impact, the negative impact that would have,” Larkin said. “Don pretty much left a legacy of really caring about how the community would develop, he worried a lot about it. And his early concerns have carried on through other mayors throughout the years and helped us become what we are today.”
Even after leaving office, Kamps remained active in the community. The World War II veteran, who served in the Army Air Corps in China where he became fluent in Mandarin Chinese, helped establish the Post Falls Historical Society, served as a consultant-of-sorts to later mayors and was a member of the Lions Club. He also owned Kamps Motel and Kamps Korner restaurant in town.
“He had a lot of knowledge about the city,” said former Mayor Frank N. Henderson, who served Post Falls from 1980 to 1983 and discussed city issues with Kamps on many occasions. “He always took an active role as a resident. He was always supportive of programs that would benefit the city,” Henderson said, offering as an example the library’s expansion.
While he was a vigorous worker on the job, at home Kamps was known as a devout family man, whose character was as calm as a lake on a windless day and who deeply loved and respected his wife, Lorraine.
“He almost never got upset at anything, he was the calmest man I’ve ever met,” said his son, Joe Kamps. “What you see is what you got with him. Dad was incredibly gentle, funny, balanced and very spiritual. He couldn’t help have an air of dignity about himself.
“Dad was a fascinating person,” he added. “He had an amazing ability to adapt the environment to him, or himself to the environment.”
For instance, Joe Kamps recalled, his father became something of a local legend when he was a newspaper delivery boy. To shave some time off his delivery routes, he used flapjacks to train his dog Bozo to run the papers to people’s doorsteps. The former Post Falls Advance newspaper even ran an article about the duo.
Then there were the tales his dad told about driving around the Rathdrum Prairie with his own father, at a time when “there weren’t no roads.” And there was his father’s love of his LP albums, which included Shakespearean plays and classical music.
More than anything, though, Joe Kamps said his dad was a man of integrity and equality, a man who loved to wear a suit, always tried to do the right thing and looked good doing it. “He just wanted to be a good steward of what he was given … He didn’t get hung-up on this at all, but I know he was very proud of how long he served Post Falls,” his son said.
As for the lessons he instilled in his sons, Joe and Thomas Kamps, Joe Kamps said, “More than anything he taught us to see the other side. There’s always another side to every story and dad always taught us to look at both sides. I didn’t really take that to heart until recently.”
Mayor Larkin reflected on the lasting legacy Don Kamps left behind. “We all hope that we could leave a legacy as he did, of caring and trying to take the community to the next level. He and his family were just good, solid citizens,” he said.