35 years ago, this gem went missing
Debbie Swanson has been missing for 35 years.
In mid-June 1986, Debbie’s divorced parents flew in from different parts of the country for a remembrance service conducted at St. Pius X Catholic Church.
They were looking for answers to their daughter’s disappearance from Tubbs Hill on Easter weekend, three months before. And clinging to hope that a phone call bearing good news might come.
The call never came. Debbie simply vanished.
The special education teacher with a big smile was last seen by students from her school, Sorensen Elementary, near Tubbs Hill on Saturday afternoon, March 29, 1986.
Three days later, a neighbor contacted police after spotting Debbie’s abandoned car in the Third Street parking lot. It contained the missing woman’s purse and packages.
Whoever abducted Debbie stole someone exceptional from the community.
At her memorial service, she was described as “a friendly, joyful teacher who loved life and loved her work.”
“Her big heart was greatly interested in (special education) children, and they knew it,” said fellow teacher David Groth. “If you’ve ever seen love between a teacher and a student, that was it.”
At the service, Don Swanson read a letter that his daughter had written to God in 1981: “Life is so rich, so grand,” she wrote. “I want to be able to show your love.”
A friend from the church’s singles’ group said Debbie “truly lived out what she wrote in that letter to Christ.”
Why am I telling you all this?
Coeur d’Alene police have long believed that someone in this area knows what happened to Debbie. And it’s past time he or she steps forward to put this cold case involving a superb woman to rest.
Singing for suppers
Coordinator Jenny Wayman called it “a bonding of the hippy era and a young student.” Mike Moody, whose repertoire on the 12-string guitar includes ‘60s-era classics, told Huckleberries he’d never played for food before. Electric violinist Edison Abel, 18, of Kelso Lake, said he now has an appreciation for the “older stuff.” All three were discussing Street Music Week, which ends after the noon hour today with buskers on Sherman Avenue raising money for local food banks via 2nd Harvest. Mike and Edison teamed up after meeting at Mix It Up, 513 Sherman Ave., headquarters for Coeur d’Alene’s part of Music Week. Each played off the other. Mike introduced Edison to “Ghost Riders in the Sky,” a song the teen thought was performed by Sons of the Pioneers or Roy Rogers. And it might have been. It has been covered by Johnny Cash and more than 100 others. Edison’s proud mother, Janice, who has pushed her son to perform publicly, was beaming afterward, joking: “That $50,000 for guitar lessons has finally paid off.”
Huckleberries
• Poet’s Corner: It’s June/too soon — The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“Speeding Toward”).
• What does the Oliveria household remember most about the senseless murder of ISP officer Linda Huff on June 17, 1998? At the Fourth of July Parade that summer, in her memory, an officer led a riderless horse, decked with flowers and maybe Linda’s hat, along the route. Solemn silence and tears greeted the entry. Too many men and women in blue have fallen since.
• At Forest Cemetery, some headstones add context about the Dearly Departed. Palmer Frederick LaVoie (1927-2013), for example, was an animal lover. His tombstone reads: “Gone to meet my friends Nifty, Scamper and Beau at the Rainbow Bridge.”
• Hat Tip — to appointed Assessor Bela Kovacs for the note that accompanied recent assessment notices. Bela began the four-page letter to property owners with a spot-on salute to his late predecessor: “I wish to acknowledge the untiring dedication and commitment of Rich Houser who left many with the memory of what it means to be a good man.”
• Twenty-five years ago, Huckleberries told of a frazzled father in town to watch his offspring play in a national girls fast-pitch tourney. What was bugging Poppa Dearest in June 1996? The rush-hour traffic on U.S. 95. So said then city rec director Steve Anthony. And the guy was from gridlocked southern California. Wouldn’t it be nice to return to the 1990s when our roads were clogged only during “rush hours?”
Parting Shot
When Jessica Mahuron of Coeur d’Alene says hubby Nash makes unique dishes with exotic ingredients for her, she isn’t kidding. Consider this dinner entree from this week: charred baby octopus with both pureed and whole sea beans, lion’s mane mushrooms and potato gnocchi, made from scratch. If your mouth isn’t watering yet, let’s drill down. The baby octopus was marinated in lemon juice, tarragon, dill, thyme, a touch of olive oil, paprika, and salt and pepper. Nash bought the sea beans at Pilgrims and the baby octopus from Fish Folks. And that’s how you show a woman she’s special.
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You can contact D.F. “Dave” Oliveria at dfo@cdapress.com.
