Spirit Lake honors family

Maine Street strollers Aug. 20 witnessed the placement of a memorial bench in a downtown park honoring one of its early day families. The bench, of China Red Marble, was being set in place by Tresko Monuments of Spokane, under the watchful eye of Tim Wilkerson, city director of Public Works.

While memorials of this type are normally placed to identify burial sites, this was not the case, nor does it reflect a change in city policy relative to internment in the Spirit Lake Cemetery. Rather, this placement recognizes longtime commitments to the city and its residents.

The honor goes to the Jacob and Ethel Tschetter family for their contributions through the years, and particularly that of Tschetter matriarch Lillian Ethel (Ablin).

Ethel Ablin and Jacob Tschetter were married in Fergus Falls, Minn., in April 1924, and two months later set out for Idaho. They were urged on, we have been led to believe, by her brothers, both successful businessmen. They operated the 'Independent Service Station' (featuring Red Crown gasoline and Seiberling tires, with gasoline at 26 cents per gallon), on the northeast corner of Fourth and Maine, until selling it in 1928.

What is now the site of Real Life Ministries originated in 1928 as the Bank of Spirit Lake, but at a date now unknown it became the Keener Pharmacy. When Keener opted to leave Spirit Lake, Ethel Tschetter was enlisted to sell their remaining inventory.

Being a trained bookkeeper and having good business sense, Ethel recognized the potential, and in 1938 purchased the building and its contents: Thus, the future 'Tschetters' Pharmacy' was born.

For several years Ethel ran the store (without an on-site pharmacist) while raising her three children, and Jake had a barber shop in back. Time passed and the eldest daughter, Lorraine, was soon to graduate with honors from Spirit Lake High School, accepting a pharmacy scholarship at Washington State College in Pullman. Lorraine became top of her class, receiving invitations to the top four scholastic societies on campus; at graduation she took the College of Pharmacy's highest academic award.

Back in Spirit Lake after graduation, Lorraine re­established the dispensing pharmacy in their Drug Store, while also "filling-in" as a visiting substitute pharmacist in nearby towns. She died in 1994.

But Lorraine wasn't the only one to receive public honors. Ethel Tschetter had already been feted by the Roy Racy Post No. 1473 of the VFW and the VFW Auxiliary as "Honorary Outstanding Citizen of The Year." In a newspaper article of the day, Ethel was singled out as "one of the mainstays and supporters of Spirit Lake throughout the years. She kept her drug store open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week. Her 'open hours' often stretched a bit longer if the young people needed a place to visit. She was termed a housemother to all the kids and is remembered fondly by more than one generation."

Ethel was also a former city treasurer, and received a silver tray for "39 years of dedicated service to the city of Spirit Lake," and was listed in "Who's Who in Idaho." Jake died in 1980, Ethel in 1987.

Ethel and Jake's two youngest children, "Dutch" and Gerry, both married and moved from the area; "Dutch" went North establishing his new family in Alaska, returning to the Spokane area for the children's secondary education. Dutch died in 2019.

Gerry and her husband, John Wiess, spent the next 30-plus years with the U.S. State Department, much of it at overseas postings.

Gerry's husband, whom she met while they were students at WSC/Pullman, retired in 1989 and they established their residence in Spokane while developing their own Spirit Lake property for summer recreational use. Gerry Wiess unexpectedly passed away March 10, and their eldest son, Mark, passed from COVID-19 on April 24.

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J.L. Forbes is a resident of Spirit Lake.