Love propels mom across finish line
Courtesy photo Bloomsday finisher Ton Heston with daughters, Lisa Perry, Anna McVay and Elaine Damschen.
In 2019 I shared the incredible love story of Jack and Ton Heston of Post Falls as they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary by renewing their vows. To say the American GI and his Vietnamese bride have overcome obstacles in the past half century would be an epic understatement.
Ton is a sprite of a woman who, until a medical emergency a few months after their anniversary left her unable to walk, routinely walked 15 miles a day. Ton has participated and finished 32 Bloomsdays.
In 2020 Bloomsday was canceled except for the virtual option. On a beautiful, sunny October Saturday entrant #80746 crossed a makeshift Bloomsday finish line on Lake Coeur d’Alene Drive. Ton had finished the 7.46 mile course with a little help from her three daughters, Elaine Damschen, Anna McVay and Lisa Perry, who took turns pushing her wheelchair to chalk up Bloomsday #33. At the finish line they supported their mother so she could walk across.
Today is Ton’s 74th birthday and the Hestons are celebrating family, love and the indomitable spirit of a woman who sacrificed much for love.
And as a sidenote, Elaine is writing a book about her parents’ love story and I predict it will be a literary bright spot for 2021.
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Chad Chalich (CHS 2012) was a hero on the football field, quarterbacking the Coeur d’Alene Vikings to two straight 5A state championships his junior and senior year in 2010 and 2011. He went on to play at the U of I then transferred to University of Montana to finish out his college career with the Grizzlies.
Chad recently began a heroic new career protecting and serving as an officer with the Seattle Police Department. He’s always been one of the good guys, a leader on and off the field. God speed Officer Chalich!
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Happy birthday today to Ton Heston, Carly Goodlander, Mike Threadgill, Monika Krapfl and Paul Mikel. Wish Jazmine Brown, Whitney Brown, Dick Brantley, Sara Fetters and Chastin Jaeger a happy birthday tomorrow. Our youngest grandson Connor turns 17 on Friday, sharing a birthday with Greg Helbling, Nathan Tull, Holly Hansen, Christopher Adamson, Tim Snyder and Margaret VanLeuven.
On Saturday Rocky Banks, Melissa Hjeltness, Adam Slobodow, Randy Millsap and David Ingalls take another trip around the sun. On Sunday Jack Price, Mary Foeller, Kyley Greer, Kathryn Arrand and Damon Darakjy celebrate the anniversary of their birth.
Oct. 25 birthdays belong to Gail McGaughey, Shweta Bangaloree Green, Scott Peterson, Wanda Corcoran, Linda Jones and Brock Prince. And another year will be marked on Tuesday by Barb Smalley, Cade Coffey, Trinity Newman, Brenda Willoughbey, Anthony Beckstead, David Cole, Jen Butler, Deirdre Eldredge, Deeann Zahn and Aidyn Dugger.
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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 and Kerri can be contacted on Facebook or via email mainstreet@cdapress.com. Follow her on Twitter @kerrithoreson.