Lifesaving record set by area man

There are many unsung heroes in our community and it's always a great pleasure to shine the light on one of them. Rich Anstine, 56, set a record this week. A record that has such far-reaching implications, it likely will never be known how many lives he's saved.Rich began donating whole blood as a 19-year-old Air Force airman and by the time he was 38, had tallied just over 30 units donated. That's when he began making the commitment to donate single donor platelets, a much more involved and time-consuming process. This week with his 300th donation of platelets, Rich becomes the top donor in Coeur d'Alene through the Inland Northwest Blood Center.

Delraya, his Coeur d'Alene High School sweetheart and bride of 37 years, is an RN by profession."I have always wondered when I'm giving a patient a platelet transfusion, if they may have once belonged to my husband," she told me.

I'm not sure if I've ever been more awed by the generosity and compassion of two people as I am of Rich and Delraya. ***

A little local mystery Main Street readers can help Joni McCoury solve ... she has an oil painting done on a Runge Furniture cardboard box. Family lore is that a man at the old Athletic Roundtable painted it for her father, likely in the 1960s. Someone wrote the name "Elmer Johnston" on the back of the painting but it's not certain that's the name of the artist. Let me know if you have any clues to the artist to pass along to Joni.***

Bert and I took in a Post Falls Trojans boys basketball game on Saturday and had a great time watching this talented team of defending state champions. Although the last time we really spent time in the bleachers was back in the mid-1990s when Coach Mike McLean was a player and our daughter, Sarah was a cheerleader. Sitting behind the bench we found a player we could really cheer for ... No. 15 Luke Thoreson. I wrote about Luke in this column a few years back when he made the sports pages for baseball and people congratulated us, thinking we were related. While the spelling of Bert's surname isn't all that common, Luke's family is no relation. At halftime I looked around the bleachers for Thoresons and enjoyed meeting Luke's parents, Nate and Barb and even his grandfather, Ron Thoreson, here visiting from Sacramento. We shared a Dakota story or two. Luke has two sisters, Kiana and Sara, so we might be attending a dance recital, too.

*** While on the Trojans topic, Coach McLean tells me this coming Saturday at 5 p.m. in The Arena, is the second annual Educators Night. Each senior basketball player will present a plaque to a teacher who's made a lasting impact in their life. Great to see the athletic program placing an emphasis on the full scope of what it means to receive an education and the people who make it possible ... teachers. ***

Facebook Status of the Week from Tom Hamilton: "We had social networking when I was a kid, too. I think back then it was called "outside."***

Kudos to Jon Mueller, president of the American Society of Landscape Architects and Ed and Peggy Santos, whose Center Target Sports was named Best Shooting Range in the entire country. Great to have local people so well-represented on the national stage.***

Brayden Gravelle celebrated his first birthday on Jan. 23, a genuine cause for celebration for his parents Lori and Dave. One year ago Brayden came into the world far too soon, weighing a mere 1 pound, 9 ounces. It was a long road, filled with faith in miracles to the happy, healthy 20-pound birthday boy making his mommy and daddy so proud. Five years ago on Jan. 24, identical twins Jillian-Kate and Acaja-Lyn Scott were born at 30 weeks, weighing in at 1 pound, 10 ounces and 2 pounds, 5 ounces, respectively. Their mom, Dianna Scott is over the moon to celebrate with her happy and healthy daughters.

***Happy Birthday today to Rosemary Goodlander, Christa Hazel, David Townsend and Russell Larson. On Thursday Mike Hendricks celebrates and Friday is Chad Oakland's big day. Rachel Riggs, Allen Hildebrant and David Gerzina, Sr. share a Jan. 29 birthdate. Shannon Damiano and Patrick Sanders will blow out their candles on Sunday and on the last day of the month Ida Hawkins turns 89 years young. Vaughn Ward, Jennifer Alexander, Robert Brown, Sandy Mill and Bernadette Chiappe-Myers also mark their birthdays on the 31st.

***Kerri Rankin Thoreson is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and the former publisher of the Post Falls Tribune. Main Street appears every Wednesday in The Press. More Main Street blog is at http://moremainstreet.blogspot.com. Listen to Main Street Monday on KVNI AM1080. Kerri can be reached at mainstreet@cdapress.com