Vera Weniger: The social heart of country life

Vera Weniger is a longtime Coeur d'Alene resident with an abiding love of all things grange-related. As a past president of the Mica Flats Grange, and holder of many Grange positions, she has been instrumental in keeping the facility at the social heart of Mica-Kidd Island life.

The following interview was conducted at the Mica Flats Grange.

Have you always been a country woman?

Well, I started out in Ackmen, Colo., which is in the Four Corners area. When I was four, my parents moved to Monticello, Utah, where they had a 160-acre farm: wheat, oats, barley, potatoes and cabbage. We also had cows, horses, pigs and chickens.

I lived there until I was 16 and then my parents went to Idaho because my dad couldn't get enough air to breathe down in Utah.

In the 1950s, almost everybody out here had a dairy farm that sold milk. Ours was just up the road from Lutherhaven. Dad went into the egg business then and raised chickens and had an egg route around Coeur d'Alene.

What skills did you pick up in your childhood?

Well, I can milk cows, back up a combine and plant mass potatoes by machine, among other things.

I can't sing, though.

How did you learn to run a business?

My husband and I moved to Smelterville in 1968 and in 1974 we bought the Smelterville Feed and Farm Store. I ran the store alone for the first few years until my husband quit his job as a mechanic.

It's either learn a business or sink and, boy, did I see a lot of that. You have to know what every product in your store is used for and how to tell your customers to use it.

The product companies all have seminars and that's where I learned the basics.

I remember one salesman who taught me how to rig a pack saddle. He taught me all about the jerk straps, the latigos, the cinches, the bosals and about all the different kinds of bits and how they interact with the horse.

We stayed in that business for more than 18 years.

How were you involved with the Bunker Hill cleanup and restoration?

Bunker Hill was a large mining company and it was considered one of the major polluters of the Silver Valley. They started a greenhouse in one of the underground mine shafts and they produced 80,000 trees a year out of that greenhouse.

My involvement started when the forester hired by Bunker Hill came to town. He was supposed to reforest all the barren hills and he came to us and said, "I'm going to need a few things."

His "few things" included semi loads of forestry mix, timed-release fertilizer and advice - lots of it. They were not only growing their own trees, they wanted native plants on those hills. We found out that Oregon grapes was one of the best plants to hold the soil and advised them on where they grew so they could gig them and transfer them.

What else were you doing at this time?

Oh, I was raising a family.

What finally happened to the store?

We sold it in '92 and moved back down to the Coeur d'Alene farm, which we'd been renting out all that time.

We raised hay - we're still raising hay - and now I've got five miniature Herefords, 10 sheep, probably 15 chickens and a couple of ducks. My boys help, too, now that my husband has passed away.

When did you first learn about the grange movement?

My parents had been involved in grange in the early '30s back in Perryton, Texas. They used to write their own plays and perform them there - that was their social events and everybody was involved.

My dad got involved at the Mica Flats Grange when we were building the addition. He cut his hand pretty badly doing that, so I guess his blood is all wrapped up in the studs in there.

What does the word "grange" mean to you?

The original point of the grange was strictly to get the farmer's produce to market and to get a fair price for it. We still promote family gardens, farmers markets and everybody raising much of their own food, even if it's just a tomato in a bucket.

Grange has always meant a place to go for social activities. We've always had dances and Christmas parties here. I believe I saw my first Christmas party in this grange and I remember the electricity going out and the gal who lived across the street getting three kerosene lights for us so we could do our Christmas program.

Right now we are the social center of the Mica-Kidd Island community.

Why did the grange movement start losing support?

I think TV came along and people wanted to sit in front of the TV instead of getting out to a meeting.

This grange was ready to close in 1993 - we didn't have enough people coming for a quorum.

How did you rescue it?

We asked people how we could save the grange and then asked them to come and help.

This grange was filthy dirty. The carpet was shredded, the drapes were black on the outside and the walls hadn't been cleaned for years. People had just neglected it.

It was a community effort. Soon we started adding programs. We now have members from the age of 14 up to 93 or 94.

Between 2002 and 2008, you served as Grange president, what's your involvement today?

I've been the social director for five years. Every month we have a special program and we also have a community Thanksgiving dinner here. Everybody brings a dish and, boy, do we have some cooks here. It's open to anybody who wants to come - just bring a dish.

I'm also president of the Happy Family Club, which is a ladies group that meets once a month. It used to be a cooperative extension club.

The grange has always placed women very highly in their elections and activities.

What other activities go on at the Grange?

We have legislative night, where we bring in people from both sides of the issue. And we have dances the last Saturday of the month from October until March. We also have a card party every month and the Jolly Workers of Mica 4-H, which is the oldest 4-H club in the county. We host Spring Festival in May and everything we do is open to the public.

What is it about the Grange building itself that makes it so special?

Maybe it's our rural setting and our location and the tremendous need for a building where we can have meetings. I don't know what we'd do without this building. Where would we go? These things that go on here could not happen.

You know the wood heat is something people absolutely love in this building and we have a wood kitchen range, too.

What about elections?

This is a polling place. I have to supervise all my workers and I've been doing that for 17 years. It's paper balloting.

Do you think people today do as much community service as your generation?

I see so many people who sit on their duffs and don't know what goes on in their neighborhood, their community, the world.

My mother and father were great givers and if they would see someone broken down beside the road, they'd invite them home to dinner and maybe a bed for the night until they got their car fixed. And these people could be complete strangers to them.

I see people now who retire and sit down in a chair and never move. Not me. I volunteer at the Mica-Kidd Island fire department as the person who prepares the food for on-scene firefighters and I have a son and grandson that volunteer at the fire department as well.

How would you change things?

I would like to see people get more involved in their community.

People today would be scared to stop and help out the way my parents did. There's a fear that has come in that is scary. I think maybe we are afraid of other people.

Got any feedback on local government?

I think it's a shame that it seems like people in the outlying areas go to the city to buy things and yet we have no say in what goes on there. I'm hoping the new mayor can open up a meeting so outside people can voice their opinions.

I feel like an outsider. I think there's too much emphasis placed on tourists. What about the locals? We're here year round spending our money.

I'd also like to see agriculture promoted more, because if we don't have farms, we don't have food.

What about the changes you've seen in your 76 years?

There's been good and bad changes. I see us becoming a world of regulations which I don't like. Right now, for instance, we can't go out and cut down one of our own trees without having to go through a class first to prove we know how to cut a tree.

There's times I can see a benefit for regulations and other times I cannot. I've been told there's a reason for those, but I think they're starting to lean toward the ridiculous.