Ex-cop Cronin now expert archivist
Tom Cronin jokes that he was appointed by President Claudia Brennan to research Coeur d’Alene Rotary Club history because he missed a meeting.
Usually, an appointment like that wouldn’t be a big deal.
But the local Rotary Club turns 100 next year. And there’s work to do to prepare for the anniversary.
Dr. Mary Sanderson, Dick Barclay and Tom are poring over a century’s worth of old editions of the Coeur d’Alene Press, looking for stories about the club. Mary and Dick are searching through digitized issues. Tom is examining hard copies, from 1953 to 2003, one page at a time.
Twice a week, for seven hours a day, the former Coeur d’Alene police chief searches archives in the Press building. Unlike today, the Press editions of yore had as many as 20 stories on the front page. At times, Tom is distracted by other reports of interest and has to re-scan a page.
He looks through three or four months in a day. Earlier this week, he spent an entire shift without finding anything. Some club presidents of the past, he figures, didn’t know the value of publicity.
Since he began on May 10, Tom has finished three-fourths of his work and has compiled a list of 165 projects that Rotary has performed for the community.
One of his favorites involves Henry Day, a Rotarian and founder of Day Mines of the Silver Valley.
In July 1954, Day invited 150 Rotarians, from Lewiston to Sandpoint, to lunch on 1,300 feet of Lake Coeur d’Alene shoreline property at Kidd Island Bay. Day had donated the land to the Camp Fire Girls. And challenged the fellow Rotarians to build what would become Camp Neewahlu in a year.
The Rotary clubs of the Idaho Panhandle missed the deadline by only 10 days.
In 2003, Camp Fire USA Inland Northwest Council upset many by selling the Camp Neewahlu to actor Dennis Franz of the old “NYPD Blue” TV series.
Tom has been a Coeur d’Alene Rotarian almost from the moment he put on his Coeur d’Alene badge in June 2000. It was a Wednesday. Councilwoman Nancy Sue Wallace invited him to be her guest at Rotary Club that Friday. And then challenged fellow Rotarians at the meeting to accept Tom into the club.
“We can’t have our new chief end up being a Kiwanian,” reasoned the former councilwoman.
Big happy family
Janna Rankin Scharf of Coeur d’Alene thought she’d heard it all during her years of selling real estate. But she wasn’t prepared for the story she heard by phone from a 78-year-old man July 6. The old-timer wanted to buy a big house and a lot of property in downtown Coeur d’Alene — 10 rooms and 16 acres, to be exact. Why? He explained he is in poor health and wanted a big spread in the Lake City to house under one roof (drum roll, please) — his five sister wives and him. “He’s very happy,” Janna explained, adding the septuagenarian plans to die with a smile on his face. Janna isn’t sure whether the codger was on the up and up. She hasn’t heard from him since. But there is at least one fictional element to the tale. In what parallel universe are 16 acres available for sale in downtown Coeur d’Alene?
Huckleberries
• Poet’s Corner (as we pull out of Afghanistan, here’s a reminder of why we entered the hellhole): “He lived by the sword and/earned what he got —/Osama Bin Laden/bin very much shot” — The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“Bin A Long Wait”).
• Overheard (at dietician Libby Hugo’s Post Falls office Wednesday): “Are you Curtis?” the receptionist asks a 60ish man at the counter. “Let me check,” he says, pulling out his wallet. Then: “Yes I am.” He adds, “Sometimes I wish I was someone else.” Receptionist, playing along: “Maybe I should be someone else, too.” Man: “Like Jennifer Aniston?” Receptionist: “I wish.”
• The aforementioned Janna Scharf spotted a motorist in an older sedan without license plates driving through Rathdrum on Sunday. He was smoking a cigarette, feet, stuffed in cowboy boots, out the window. It’s summertime, and the living may be too easy for that guy.
• It was dangerous being a firefighter 70 years ago, too. On July 15, 1951, Richard W. Gaines became the first local fireman killed in the line of duty when he rushed into a burning building in the 200 block of Lakeside Avenue (near the current location of the Press). Gaines had served with the local fire department for four years. He was first on the scene. Blinded by smoke, he fell 8 feet into the Thomson Building basement when a stairwell collapsed.
• Bjorn Handeen, a local GOPrecinct committeeman, has noticed an odd thing about incoming refugees from SoCal’s Far Right. Many are fans of the old Hollywood band Concrete Blonde, as is Bjorn — you know, “Joey” and “Someday.” OK, I’d never heard of Concrete Blonde either.
Parting Shot
A 1986 jewelry heist brought them together, cop Gary and reporter Susan. Gary Cuff was the lead detective on the case for the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department. His future wife, Susan, was a Coeur d’Alene Press police reporter covering the theft. Sparks flew. The late Jaydeen Torrey, then secretary of the detectives unit, noticed. And played matchmaker. That was spring. By summer, they were dating. They saw “Top Gun” on their first date. Gary’s care for Susan’s cats sold her on the guy. Eventually, the couple moved to Missoula, where Susan began working for the University of Montana Alumni Relations Department (and still does) and Gary retired. For almost 34 years of marriage, they lived happily afterward. On July 1, death claimed Gary at age 70. He was a good cop with a soft heart. RIP.
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D.F. “Dave” Oliveria can be contacted at dfo@cdapress.com.
