'Forever Young' singer signs for fans
When the Tri-Cities Americans meet the Spokane Chiefs in the WHL, there's no shortage of action on the ice. But last Friday there was excitement of another kind at the Chiefs' home game. Valerie and Josh Queen, Gary and Cathy O'Neal and Marcy and Mike Connolly were seated in Section 105, just below the box where legendary British rocker Rod Stewart and his wife Penny were taking in the game with family and friends.
Liam Stewart, 17, the son of the singer and his former wife, Rachel Hunter, plays for the Chiefs and this was the first time his dad had come to Spokane to see him play.
At one point Valerie and Cathy took their program books and approached the open box seats to ask if Rod would autograph them. According to Valerie he was very gracious and friendly, signing without hesitation. So how did the game turn out? Spokane lost to Tri-Cities 4-2.
For the 7th year the Coeur d'Alene Downtown Association is hosting the St. Patrick's Day Parade on Sherman Avenue at 4 p.m. on Saturday. This is such a fun event, people watching along the sidelines is a hoot, too. Congratulations to Dr. John Giesen, this year's Grand Marshall and Irish Colleen Sharon Kearns. Don some green and celebrate!
Happy birthday today to Tom Capone, Wayne Cofield, Ina Bressler, Teri Rouse, Candace McEnespy and Adam Graves. Born on the Ides of March: Bud Evans and Sheila Kemis, John McGruder, Len Crosby, Penny Linder, Todd Christensen, Rich Noordam, Zach Yost and Debra Cashman. Friday, March 16 birthdays belong to Cathy Riorden, Kelly Moore, Cindy Marcella, Dottie Picard, LauraLee Johnson, KC Billetz and Ken Kress, who's turning 60! St. Patrick's Day is a great day to celebrate a birthday with Keith Hutcheson, Cody Peugh, Patty Conkle, Mike Gump, Nichelle Price hoping for a little luck o'the Irish. On Sunday Chris Englebrecht and Bret Merry are the birthday boys. Monday is the birthday of Lance Bridges, Kris Story, Taryn Nichols and Judy Brown. Tuesday is the first day of Spring (cue applause!) and blowing out their candles will be Julie Clark, John Blanchette, Carolyn Anderson and Matt Hanson. Lifelong friends Pam Houser and Jody Kienke share a March 20 birthday and will celebrate their milestone 50th this year.
St. Paddy's Day or St. Patty's Day? I'm in the camp of the first spelling. As the luck o'the Irish would have it, my facebook friend Jessica Walter Woods, a correspondent for the Post Falls Tribune back in my era when she was a student at Lakeland High School, has for the past several years made her home in Monasterboice, Louth, Ireland. She says that in Ireland it's just called Paddy's Day, dropping the saint altogether so they can be sinners while celebrating.
Tomorrow marks my 26th wedding anniversary to one of the nicest guys on the planet. Bert and I share the day (month and year, too) with one of my favorite couples, Michael and Anna Pearce. Anna, aka Patty Duke, and I like to joke that we just kept doing it until we got it right. 1986 was a banner year for us both. We're blessed.
Kerri Rankin Thoreson is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and the former publisher of the Post Falls Tribune. She was voted Best Local Writer for 2011 by the readers of the North Idaho Business Journal. Main Street appears every Wednesday in The Press and Kerri is on the air Mondays and Wednesdays on 1080 ESPN AM (KVNI). She can be reached at [email protected]