Praise for Dan, the character man

Bet you didn’t know that character, philanthropy and community can all be spelled the same way.

P-i-n-k-e-r-t-o-n.

Dan Pinkerton, that is, founder of Coeur d’Alene-based Pinkerton Retirement Specialists and, as we’re learning a lot lately, so much more.

Pinkerton is the driving force behind the astonishing park that’s going up at Atlas Road near Kathleen Avenue. Its theme is Christian-based, but its overriding mission is a religion every human being can agree upon: developing character.

Faith Walk Community Fitness Park likely will be open next year, building mind, body and spirit — at no cost to users except for special occasions.

The park will have facilities for physical exercise, group sporting activities and public and private events, with picnic tables and barbecue pits.

The half-mile perimeter of the park will be lined with 16 covered gazebos containing exercise equipment, redwood benches and full-color scenic panels with interactive media links focusing on faith and character.

It will also feature a waterfall garden, soccer field, playground area, pavilion and gymnasium.

The mission is to “foster excellence in character by building the body, mind and spirit through inspirational education, physical exercise and community engagement.”

The ink had barely dried on The Press story about the park when Pinkerton’s name appeared in conjunction with another character-developing enterprise: The North Idaho Spelling Bee.

After 17 years of paying the spelling bee freight, amounting to thousands of dollars a year, The Press passed it along to North Idaho College, which had been a partner all those years. The program fell into dormancy with the pandemic and appeared headed for the g-r-a-v-e-y-a-r-d until Pinkerton piped up — and forked over the cash needed to run the five-county program.

A speller of some note in his youth, Pinkerton’s children did their dad one better, proving to be frequent champions locally. But in the announcement stating Pinkerton’s resurrection project, the benefactor noted that not winning when he was young was a character-building exercise that helped make him the man he is today.

Dan is ratcheting up the competition a notch, too. If the '22 Regional Bee goes 20 rounds, the runner-up and guardian will join the champ and guardian in all-expense paid trips to the National Bee in Washington, D.C.

On the same day the spelling bee sponsorship was announced, an advertisement in The Press invited community members to participate in a fundraising scavenger hunt at Riverstone, with proceeds going to low-income hospitality workers in the area.

Yep, you guessed it. The guy behind that was Mr. Character, Philanthropy and Community himself.

You know how it’s spelled.