HUCKLEBERRIES: Time marches on, memories stand strong

Sixty years have passed, but the question remains: Who killed Susan Stewart?

The nude remains of the 17-year-old summer visitor from Missouri were found face down in shallow water along the west side of Tubbs Hill.

Susan’s body was discovered by off-duty Fire Chief Joe Turk on Saturday morning, Aug. 22, 1964.

According to the Coeur d’Alene Press that afternoon, Turk and his family were hiking to the southwest point of Tubbs Hill for a picnic when they saw blood stains on the ground. Turk followed the blood trail about 60 yards through the rock and brush to the water’s edge.

His worst fears were confirmed when he located Susan’s bludgeoned body.

The girl’s murder remains unsolved today.

None of the local cops of that day could recall a murder in Coeur d’Alene.

“This is the biggest case we have had in the 18 years I’ve been in the Coeur d’Alene Police Department,” Police Chief George Lenz was quoted as saying in a 2014 Inlander article on the 50th anniversary of the unsolved crime. Lenz had been named police chief three weeks earlier.

An intensive search of the area by police and sheriff’s deputies revealed few clues. Twenty officers and volunteers combed Tubbs Hill that weekend. Three dozen more volunteers searched the hill on the following weekend after Chief Lenz offered a $50 reward to anyone who found evidence.

Sheriff John Bender spotted the murder weapon: A 5-by-6-inch rock covered with blood. He and Chief Lenz believed it had been used to bash Susan’s head in. Also located was a religious medallion with a broken chain that the victim’s mother said belonged to her daughter. But the girl’s clothes were missing: cutoff blue jeans, a light-green blouse with short sleeves, and green flip-flops.

According to The Press, Susan, a 5-foot-2 blonde, and her mother had arrived in Coeur d’Alene from Pacific, Mo., two months before. The military had transferred Susan’s father, airman James R. Stewart, to Okinawa. The family was planning to join him after he had settled in.

Susan’s mother called Coeur d’Alene police at 2:06 Saturday morning, Aug. 22, after her daughter failed to return from an evening walk. The teen had left home in the 1400 block of Sherman Avenue around 7 o'clock. The distraught woman told police that Susan never stayed out past 9.

Earlier in the day, The Press reported, Susan had ridden in a car with a 25-year-old man she knew. Later, after questioning and a lie detector test, the possible suspect said that he’d dropped Susan off along West Lakeshore Drive around 4:30 p.m. Friday. A witness confirmed his story.

Local police followed leads throughout the Northwest and conducted 12 polygraph tests. They even interviewed Susan’s boyfriend in Missouri, who had an alibi. Everything led to a dead end.

Private funeral services for Susan were held the Thursday after her murder at English Funeral Home. Cremation followed. Her mother and a brother later joined her father in Okinawa.

And time has all but erased Susan Stewart's memory.

Preach it, pastor

You may not remember Minister Clell Dietz. But old-timers will recall his iconic masterpiece: a huge billboard along Interstate 90, near Ramsey Road, that touted Scripture.

On this day 45 years ago (Aug. 25, 1979), Pastor Clell, then 89, told the story of his remarkable ministry to the Coeur d’Alene Press.

In the late 1950s, he felt restless as he guided a Methodist church in Tekoa, Wash. So he prayed for direction. Said he: “The Lord led me to put my ministry on the highway.”

Soon afterward, he was pastoring in Post Falls, when he learned that the Idaho Transportation Department had 3 acres for sale along the interstate, one of the most strategic areas in the state for highway evangelism. The purchase of the property led to the construction of a 42-by-27-foot billboard and the opening of the old Bible Book Nook.

The first sign posted on Pastor Clell’s billboard was: “The churches of Coeur d’Alene welcome you.” The second one got down to business: “The entrance of thy words giveth light (Psalms 119:130).”

The Bible Book Nook is gone now, replaced by the Sower Bible Bookstore. But a smaller version of Pastor Clell’s billboard still displays Bible messages. Last week, the featured Scripture was John 3:3, “Jesus said, ‘Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’”

 In 1979, Pastor Clell was satisfied that the billboard had had a “profound effect” on passing travelers. Said he: “The billboard has brought many people face to face with God’s Word.”

Rhythm of rain

The odds aren’t great that a band named after soap would produce a one-hit wonder, especially when the song was on the B side of an old 45 record. But The Cascades did just that in 1963 with a gold record: “Rhythm of the Rain.”

Thirty years ago (Aug. 21, 1994), drummer Dave Wilson, then 49, explained to the Coeur d’Alene Press why he was living in Post Falls and driving guest vans at The Coeur d’Alene Resort Golf Course. He’s the one who can be heard in the song’s background singing, “pitter patter, rap, tap, tap.”

Seems love brought him to the area.

He had met his wife, Terrie, at the old Rathskeller Inn on Sherman Avenue in the mid-1960s during Northwest tours by The Cascades. She tracked him down after the band broke up; they’d been married a year when The Press came calling.

The band, Wilson said, was originally named Thunder Notes. But that changed one day as its producer opened a box of Cascade soap while washing dishes and — voila — liked the name.

Also, he said, the San Diego-based group preferred the “A side” of its hit 45 record: an upbeat rocker called, “Let Me Be.” But listeners kept flipping the record over.

Said Miller: “We just got lucky, I guess.”

Fan mail

“I am the 18-year-old in the picture with Robert Taylor in 1954,” emails Nancy Moen Wilson, a former colleague of mine at the old Coeur d’Alene bureau of The Spokesman-Review. Nancy was referring to the 1954 photo taken of her, in a bathing suit, with actor Robert Taylor and his new wife, Ursula, on Beauty Bay (Huckleberries, Aug. 12). She and Dick Rice had performed aquatic tricks for the actors, who were guests of Nancy’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Anton Moen. Last month, Nancy says, she and other 88-year-olds from the Coeur d’Alene High Class of 1954 celebrated their 70th reunion.

Huckleberries

• Poet’s Corner: He grew forgetful in old age,/which led to mix up on the stage;/oblivious to well-learned habits,/he pulled top hats out of rabbits” — The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“Why the Magician Retired”).

• Streak Ends: Actor John Hurt was riding a winning streak when he came to town in 1979 — you know, the guy who had a creepy critter burst from his chest in “Alien.” He had appeared in two hit movies in a row until he was cast as drunken Billy Irvine in the mega flop “Heaven’s Gate,” filmed partly in Wallace. Oh well, he enjoyed his time that summer boating on Lake Coeur d'Alene.

• Did You Know — crooner Bing Crosby and his four sons played in a charity softball game at Memorial Field on Aug. 29, 1949? The Crosbys suited up for a Spokane team which beat the Coeur d’Alene Knights of Columbus 6-3 before a crowd of 2,000. Bing, the second baseman, had one hit in two at bats. The event raised $1,156 for a Catholic school building,

• Sold! On Aug. 19, 1969, North Idaho Junior College announced the purchase of the McHugh House at 917 W. Garden Ave., the one-time quarters for the Fort Sherman commandant. The college bought the historic building from former mayors John McHugh and Don Johnston. Prior to the purchase, it had served as an apartment building.

Parting shot

On Aug. 18, 1999, Mayor Steve Judy announced the city’s $500,000 purchase of 33 acres of Cherry Hill, including its famous sledding run. Said Judy: “Ten to 15 years from now, people will look back on this as one of the biggest decisions that came out of Coeur d’Alene in the '90s.” If Judy sounded like he was bragging, he wasn’t. The acquisition was a brilliant move. The city built a third fire station on 2 acres of its new property. And then added a BMX track, a memorial to police and firefighters, and now a pickleball complex. All this, and the kids still slide down the hill in the winter.

• • •

D.F. (Dave) Oliveria can be contacted at dfo@cdapress.com.

    In 1964, Coeur d’Alene police officer Robert Thom pointed to blood stains along a Tubbs Hill trail.
  

    In 1964, a week after the Stewart murder, three residents of Houston, Texas, joined the community in a search for clues on Tubbs Hill. From left, Mrs. W.H. Waters, Michael McGinnis and Michael’s father, Bill.
  

    In 1979, Pastor Clell Dietz, 89, posed along Interstate 90 with his iconic Highway Evangelism billboard.
  

    In 1994, Dave Wilson, formerly of The Cascades, posed with his gold record for “Rhythm of the Rain."
  

    Last month, Nancy Wilson, third from left, was shown with classmates at the 70th reunion of the Coeur d’Alene High Class of 1954. Others included: Former State Commerce Director Jim Hawkins, second from left, and retired businessman Bill Drake, second from right. Nancy was 18 in 1954 when she performed aquatic tricks on Lake Coeur d’Alene for actor Robert Taylor and his wife, Ursula. Said Nancy of this photo: “We all look pretty good for a bunch of 88-year-olds.”
  

    In 1979, actor John Hurt went boating on Lake Coeur d’Alene during a break in shooting “Heaven’s Gate.”
  

    In 1969, North Idaho Junior College President Barry Schuler, left, and Dean of Faculty Ray Stone discussed the college purchase of the historic Fort Sherman officers’ quarters.
  

    In 1999, Mayor Steve Judy, center, announced the city’s purchase of 33 acres of Cherry Hill. With him are, from left: Councilman Chris Copstead, Councilman Dave Walker, Judy, fireman Lee Holbrook, Realtor Pat Acuff and fire chief Rick Lasky.