Don and Lil Washburn: Making music together, inspired by God

COEUR d'ALENE - Pastor Don Washburn and his wife of 69 years, Lil, are known as the leaders and founders of the popular Gospel Jubilee in Coeur d'Alene, playing music together the past 16 years. They sing for packed crowds at Lake City Community Church on the second and fourth Saturday of each month.

On Wednesday, Don, 90, and Lil, 88, sat down with The Press to share how they met and fell in love, how they ended up playing music, why they ended up living in Coeur d'Alene, and a lot of the in-between details.

How did you two meet in 1943?

DON: I was going to school in Chicago, seminary, and I got a job working with (Lil's) sister. We conversed back and forth during working and then she said she had a sister coming down, who was 17. (Lil) was engaged to another man at that time, and (her family) thought she was too young and didn't know what she was doing. ... First time I laid eyes on her I couldn't believe it. I was used to Plain Janes. She was all primped up, with a beautiful red suit on and makeup, jewelry, and you have it. I wasn't used to that. She was a stunning-looking girl.

LIL: My dad, he had called my sister. He wanted me to get away because he didn't like the man I was engaged to. I was 17, I said, "I'll be back when I'm 18."

Lil was in Chicago for about a week before she met Don.

Lil, a farmer's daughter, who was born and raised in Minnesota. Don was raised on a farm in Wisconsin. They married in 1945.

Don went on to become a pastor in South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Washington and Idaho.

How did you first come to move to Coeur d'Alene in 1955?

DON: My brother-in-law got the bright idea he wanted to move to Idaho. And he said, "Why don't you go with me?" Well, I didn't have a church, I had a steady job, an autobody man at that time, and so we said, "Sure, let's do it." So one day I scraped up enough money; I had about $300. I hooked up my 1950 Buick Roadmaster to my 45-foot house trailer and pulled it from Wisconsin out here to Coeur d'Alene. Picked out Coeur d'Alene on a map. We'd never seen it.

LIL: We had four kids and another one on the way.

What was that roadtrip like?

DON: I had it floored all the way up the (passes), about five miles per hour. ... I'd never seen a mountain before in my life. ... When I got down to the bottom of the hills, all the tires were smoking, or the wheels and brakes (They had brakes on the trailer, too). The Lord saw us through. We pulled into Coeur d'Alene on about Oct. 16, 1955. We spent about a week getting here.

What was your impression of Coeur d'Alene?

DON: First glimpse of Coeur d'Alene was the Coeur d'Alene Lake. And the sun was just setting, a great big red ball. The mountains on both sides and then the water was like a mirror. And that just took our breath away. We settled down here and I went into the bodywork again. Came in on a Sunday, and by Monday morning at 9 o'clock I had a job.

He worked for several years before getting called back into the ministry, and the family moved into a parsonage in Ferndale, Wash., just north of Bellingham. The family went to Ferndale so Don could serve at an old Baptist church. The family stayed in Ferndale for four years, then returned to their house in Coeur d'Alene. Back in North Idaho, Don went back to work and also served as a pastor.

Don, what originally drew you to the ministry when you were growing up in tiny Oxford, Wisconsin?

DON: My folks were Christians. I dedicated my life to the Lord at the early age of 14. Then I felt the call in my heart that I should go into the ministry. When I was 17 I left for Chicago to train.

He started at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and then switched to the Evangelical Free Church seminary.

How did you get into music?

DON: I was about 4 or 5 years old, they had a Christmas program, and my mother trained my brother (Jim, who was then 6) and I to sing together. That was my first attempt to sing in front of an audience. ... I got about halfway through and looked out there and saw all those people and started crying. Mother was so disgusted with me.

LIL: His mother (Vida Washburn) had been a opera singer.

DON: I guess I took my voice from her. She trained to be an opera star. She had a chance to go to England, to travel. She was only about 17 or 18, and her dad didn't want her to go. So that discouraged her. So she gave up on that, met my dad and got married and had eight kids.

Don got Lil to sing with him once he was in the ministry. She took up piano, learning to play songs by ear, and Don learned to play bass. They've been playing together long enough that approximately 40 musicians they've played with as part of the Gospel Jubilee have died.

What's your favorite song to play?

DON: My favorite song is a fairly new one, made popular by (Pastor) Jimmy Swaggart. It's called "The Anchor Holds." The anchor is Christ, holding on to you through life.