Dressing for dinner with a comical twist
When Allisa Haakenson Chipman posted “I’m absolutely sure your dad is not as cool as mine …” she was talking about her father, Bob Haakenson. Bob, 85, is a former Idaho legislator, former county commissioner and was a longtime teacher in Coeur d’Alene.
The rest of Allisa’s sentence is as follows, “… to show up at your birthday dinner in full clown costume and make-up!”
The rest of this most interesting story is that her 50th birthday celebration was side-lined with everything else in 2020 so this year she was joined by her family at Beverly’s for a 50+1 birthday dinner. Her fiance` Chris Coscia, brother Eric Haakenson and his wife, Chelle; her sister Kristina and husband Ken Lallatin, and her parents Janet and Bob made up the party of revelers. Allisa was surprised when her dad walked into the restaurant. Bob was attired and made up in full clown regalia, impressively.
Turns out Bob is a Mason and for many years volunteered as a clown with the Shriners. His proud daughter tells me that while he hasn’t done any clowning for quite some time, “he usually busts out the costume for the Perfection-Nots in the 4th of July Parade.”
Re: the costume on Saturday night Allisa joked that it was his interpretation of dressing sharp for a nice dinner out.
Huge style and cool dad points Bob!
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Monday’s first snowfall of spring was an indication that March is likely to go out like a lion. The snowy day was record-setting for McLean Cattle ranch on the Rathdrum Prairie. The open air “nursery” welcomed 14 new calves born in a single day!
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Last week I took a pair of new pants to be hemmed and as I'm leaving the shop a man in his thirties was coming in, holding the door for me. I said a cheery thank you and he said thank you for saying thank you. We both laughed.
I was thinking that this past year we've been avoiding eye contact, wearing masks, being intentionally distant and isolated. We’ve not had as many occasions to practice social graces like holding a door and saying thank you.
So my hope is that as we re-learn how to interact with each other in real life, we'll hold doors for a stranger and thank those who do.
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Main Street, March 25, 2020:
“Two months ago Sarah relocated from Los Angeles to Phoenix where she’s now based with the airlines. I can assure you that as soon as it’s prudent I will do what I did in 2001 … board a plane and go hug my daughter. It’s difficult to foresee just how much life as we know it will be changed when this current crisis is over.”
Note: I flew to Phoenix to hug my daughter in September 2020, my first airline flight of the pandemic year.
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One year ago the Coeur d’Alene Press removed the paywall from its website for months to ensure everyone had access to important and critical real-time information as it was changing by the hour. It was a generous act that made a genuine difference to the communities it serves.
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Happy Birthday today to Dick Harris, Esther Paul and Nichole Frank. Tomorrow Jamé Davis, Ray Oliver, Colleen Brown, Brenda Buckingham, Alyssa Romero, Mike Carle and Alexander Carle (13!) do a birthday dance. On Friday Dave Fair, Julie Harris, Julie Readel, Nancy Noordam, J.B. Romero, Lorna Griffin, Mike Bennett, Cyndy Griffin, John Hart, Mistie Cooper and WJ Lazerus put on their party hats. On Saturday Chet Lindquist, Lila Kimm, Theresa Hart, Jamie Green, Katherin Pope, Dan Dunham, Sharon Erickson, Chris Magera, Susan Reynolds, Lynne Wiedemann, Alie Hotchkiss, Ralph Nelson, Irene Bowman (70!) and Julie Harris take another trip around the sun. Sunday birthday celebrants are Cindy Sweeney, Brandon Clearwaters, James Heilman, Barb Forgacs, Robert Durflinger, Richard Wegner, Chris Camarata and Page Hibbs (13!). March 29 birthdays will be celebrated by Bob Koep, Mary Hawkins and Bo Gerzina. On Tuesday Gloria Weidner, Tabetha Brisbin, Linda Schmidt, Bren Grace and Kathleen Perez blow out the candles..
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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.