Dead right about his career plans
Most youngsters don’t dream of becoming a mortician when they grow up.
But Henry Johnston did. At age 11, the St. Maries native became interested in the profession after a family member died. His father, Dale, bestowed the nickname “Digger” on Henry in 2005 when he began working full-time at Short’s Funeral Home in Moscow.
“Digger,” as a term for a mortician, was popularized by a character in the 1940s “Life of Riley” radio series: “Digger O’Dell: The Friendly Undertaker.”
Henry embraced the nickname and the profession.
Now, fast forward to last July when Henry bought Steward and Williams Funeral Home in Ellensburg and Cle Elum, Wash.
“Not bad for a 35-year-old kid from North Idaho,” Henry said in a phone call Wednesday.
In spring 2002, Henry was a 16-year-old kid at Sandpoint High when he earned 15 minutes of regional fame — and upset his schoolmates.
It was only months after the 9/11 attacks. And patriotism was running high. Henry, a black-and-white conservative at the time, noticed that state law required that the “Pledge of Allegiance” be said daily in Idaho schools. He pushed the administration to make it happen. Either the high school should begin the day with the pledge, Henry reasoned, or it should lobby to change the law.
Administrators acquiesced and then prevented the school newspaper from skewering Henry.
After high school, Henry attended the University of Idaho and started working for funeral chapels on the Palouse. In 2013, he became a full-time mortician. And, three years ago, he accepted an offer to manage the two central Washington funeral homes. He began talks to buy them in late 2019.
Henry kept the “Williams” when he updated the name of his new business to Johnston and Williams. He wanted to honor Ed Williams, who had owned or worked at the two funeral homes for 13 years. And who also was born and raised in St. Maries, Idaho.
“What are the chances that two guys from the same North Idaho town would own the same funeral home in Ellensburg?” Henry wondered.
Ah, slim and none?
Still ticking
Rex Morehouse is still giving local governments fits. Case in point, he posted this Valentine’s Day Facebook message after snowplows in Pendleton, Ore., were late in making rounds: “Maybe we can use some of the millions the city got from the first virus bailout to buy some snowplows.” Who is Rex Morehouse? In the early 1980s, during his three years as president, the Spirit Lake native transformed the Kootenai County Property Owners Association into an opposing force in local levy and bond elections, and annexations. The anti-property tax group grew from 30 in 1981 to 400 in February 1986. Rex was so effective that supporters of a failed 1984 school bond pressured his employer, Pay ‘N Pak, to send him packing. Thirty-five years ago this month, Rex accepted a promotion to become assistant manager of the Pay ‘N Pak store in Pendleton. Then, he turned the reins of the Property Owners Association over to another diehard conservative — a fella named Ron Rankin.
Huckleberries
• Poet’s Corner: Few things on earth/are quite so merry/as sunny days/in February – The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“Winter Treat”).
• Those blue “Trump 2020” banners aren’t going away soon, especially the one near 15th & Thomas Lane — you know, the banner with a black “4” (2024) hand-painted over the final zero.
• I didn’t write a column last week because I didn’t have the drive to do so. You see, I lost my lifelong Valentine when my mother, Eva Oliveria, passed on Feb. 5. Her death was a relief in a way. She had gotten every ounce of use out of her 95-year-old body, suffering the fog of dementia during her final years. I will soldier on without her. She wouldn’t have had it any other way.
• Overheard: Doug Eastwood, the former city parks director, cherishes the memory of his late father-in-law, Dr. Ed Davis, giving daughter, Alicia, then 7 or 8, wonderful advice almost 35 years ago. “It’s nice to be important,” he told the child, “but it’s more important to be nice.” Bingo!
• Kevin Richert of Idaho Education News was wondering what to drop for Lent. He’s given up dining out, traveling, meeting friends for coffee or drinks, going to concerts, singing in a chorus, and running in real-live, non-virtual races. What’s left? he Facebooks. Chocolates?
Parting Shot
A year has gone by since newspaper buddy, Dave Bond, passed on Feb. 16, 2020. We worked together at the old Coeur d’Alene office of The Spokesman-Review. And we were fierce competitors during those periods when he toiled at The Press. In honor of the first anniversary of Bond’s death, I offer you this old Huckleberry from April 19, 1993: “Former CdA mayor John McHugh has a theory that rabid ‘Daves’ have inhibited good political candidates from running for office here. Sez he: ‘Who would voluntarily subject their every action to the scrutiny of a Dave, be it Bond or Oliveria?’ Aw, the good old days.
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You can contact D.F. “Dave” Oliveria at dfo@cdapress.com.
