Celebrating a miracle recovery

This coming Saturday Dave and Brooke Miller and their young children will be celebrating. It's the sixth anniversary of Dave coming out of a 12-day coma after being kicked in the head during a soccer game in May 2007. Recalls Brooke, "He woke up June 1 and heard people in the room talking about the benefit that was being held that night and he thought, "I must be dying." He thought he'd been in a car wreck, having no memory of the traumatic brain injury at the soccer game.

Dave had to re-learn to walk, drive, etc. so it was six months before he was back to work. To this day, doctors in town stop and tell him how they can't believe he recovered as quickly and well as he did."

This miracle couldn't have happened for a nicer family.

Todd and DeDe Tondee accompanied Rose Backs and her husband, Matt to New Jersey this month where Rose was the auctioneer at a fundraiser for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. The friends extended their stay for a few days post auction to see the sights of New York City. On Tuesday, May 21 Todd and DeDe took in the "Good Morning America" show, standing in the crowd outside the studio. They carried a posterboard sign reading "Post Falls, Idaho loves GMA!"

They got a double shot of national television air time, being seen by viewers that morning and then again this past Monday. Due to the network coverage of the storms in Oklahoma, portions of the May 21 show were taped and then re-broadcast this week. Thanks Todd and DeDe for representing!

The girls of summer, aka the North Idaho Xtreme 97 U-16 softball team, are holding a yard sale/bake sale/car wash on Friday and Saturday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. both days. These girls do a lot of traveling in their summer season of play so come out and show your support. The sale is next to Nosworthy's across from the fairgrounds on Government Way.

Follow-up to last week's column mention of World War II vet Jim Shepperd gathering flowers from his neighbors' yards early each Memorial Day morning to make a wreath. Jim told me Monday morning before the VFW ceremony for those lost and buried at sea began at Independence Point, that on Sunday he found armfuls of beautiful flowers and foliage that had been gathered by his neighbors to be used for the wreath. I think he got to sleep in a little later on Memorial Day morning.

Standing on the walkway to the dock to watch the waterside ceremony I made the acquaintance of two of Coeur d'Alene's newest residents who had read about Jim Shepperd's half century of making the wreath in last week's Main Street column and decided to attend. As Pat and Carol Williams have a son currently serving in Afghanistan it was especially meaningful for them to see how their new community honors their veterans.

At the American Legion Post 143 ceremony at Evergreen Cemetery there were three speakers representing service in WWII, Vietnam and Iraq. State Representative Frank Henderson, Post Falls City Councilman Skip Hissong and KCFR Deputy Chief Dan Ryan were eloquent in their remarks and observations.

The Pappy Boyington Detachment of the Marine Corps League hosted ceremonies at Coeur d'Alene Memorial Gardens that included participation by the Young Marines of North Idaho. During the tolling of the bell for all Kootenai County veterans who've passed on this year, I was struck by the shared sense of patriotism and duty by Marines of WWII and of the Young Marines still in high school. And the Star Spangled Banner sung acappella by Callie Cabe was one of the finest renditions I've ever heard.

There were several other Memorial Day ceremonies held throughout our communities and if the attendance at the three we did attend is any indication, it's good to see so many citizens honoring the meaning and purpose of the day.

Reminder that the annual Post Falls Days celebration, for decades held on the first weekend in June, has been changed to the second weekend of July. The expanded Post Falls Festival will be a July event from now on. For parade info you can contact me or the Post Falls Chamber of Commerce.

Happy Main Street birthday today to Star Shewey, Tiffany Williams, Jeff Pryse, Butch Andrews and Pehr Black. Tomorrow Matt Weaver, Justin Curtis, Sheila Spears, Chloe Fleming and Becky Bridges will be celebrating. On Friday Cindy Wood, Roger Beaulieu, Diane Huber, Lindsay Cantrell, Peggy Suenkel and Meredith Close are putting on their party hats. Starting the month of June with birthdays on the first are Shannon Coles, Debbie Costa, Patrick Booth, Drake Foster, Mike Alexander, Tresa Brown and Vicki White. Al Williams, Mitch Alexander, Brenda Walters, Irene Seidler and Nels Jensen share June 2 birthdays. Taking another trip around the sun on Monday are Scott Osburn, Matthew Hutchinson, Kathy Larson, Sharon Timmons, Susan Mensching and Matt Boseth and on Tuesday Natalie Wyant, Lynsie Odd, Jessica Downs and Nikki Downs.

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 2013 by the readers of the North Idaho Business Journal. Main Street appears every Wednesday in The Press. Find Kerri on Facebook or via email [email protected].