HUCKLEBERRIES: Merry Press Christmas to all!

Officially, the Press Christmas for All began in 1986.

Unofficially, the Yuletide charity started seven years earlier.

In 1979, the program that would raise millions of dollars for struggling families for 40-plus years began as a simple act of kindness: a neighbor helping a neighbor.

Larry and Mae Hanley noticed that a couple in their neighborhood didn’t have money to buy gifts for their three children. So, the Hanleys contacted the state Department of Health and Welfare.

“We thought there’d be some programs to help people like that,” Larry recalled for the Coeur d’Alene Press 20 years ago. “But the man told us nobody was doing anything.”

In November 2004, Larry called The Press to set the record straight about the origins of Christmas for All. At the time, a story was circulating that the program kicked off in a Post Falls garage.

“There’s no truth in that at all,” Larry said.

In the beginning, Larry and his wife received something unexpected from Health and Welfare officials: a list of 80 more poor families.

Larry asked his wife what they should do. And she responded: “Well, let’s give it a go.”

Miracles followed.

The VFW Ladies Auxiliary gave “a room full of stuff.” Montgomery Ward donated board games and puzzles. The old Rathskeller Inn contributed $100. A real estate client of Larry’s coughed up $50.

Soon the Hanleys’ home was stacked with Christmas wonder.

In that first year, they helped 87 families, each with at least two children.

In 1980, boosted by publicity from The Press, the mom-and-pop charity took off.

“That article in The Press got all those people fired up,” Larry Hanley said. “We gathered food daily.”

Six volunteers helped. A Sherman Avenue storefront was used to collect toys, food and other items. St. Vinny’s and the ministerial association donated turkeys. The old Rosauers supermarket erected a Christmas tree to support the growing effort — the first Christmas for All tree.

And the Hanleys and others assisted 175 to 180 families.

1980 was also the year the Hanleys christened their efforts with a name that stuck: Christmas for All. The two decided they wanted to help everyone and not just some.

The campaign rolled along until 1983 when the Hanleys moved to Spokane and transferred Christmas for All duties to another. The charity languished until Press employee Sally Post and former newspaper executive Bob Paulos intervened. With owner Duane Hagadone’s blessing, Paulos resurrected the charity, changing the name slightly to Press Christmas for All.

In 2004, Larry Hanley, then 79, smiled and said: “That was our baby.”

A calling

A career as a librarian was a calling for the late Julie Meier — not a job.

She fell in love with the library in Spokane as “a quiet, shy girl who wasn’t pretty and didn’t have much talent or friends.” She used that frank description of her younger self for a retirement profile story in The Press on Nov. 21, 2004.

At the library, she found warmth, caring and adventure.

“When I was little, I was at the library every day. I wanted to stay in the library. I wanted to live there as a child.” She was accepted at the library, where people “smiled when she arrived, spoke kindly to her, and helped her.”

She also found a career path that placed her at the head of the Coeur d’Alene Library for 23 years, where she supervised an annual budget of $800,000, a staff of 27, and a book inventory of 73,000.

Julie was instrumental in modernizing the local library and guiding its transition from the old building at Seventh and Lakeside to the former Louisiana-Pacific building at 201 E. Harrison Ave.

In retirement, Julie still viewed the library with childlike awe as “a place you’re always welcome.”

Grocer war

War raged in midtown 40 years ago: Grocer War.

Albertson’s and Safeway slashed prices, trying to steal customers from each other — and from the large, warehouse-type markets. Albertson’s shut its doors for two days to mark down prices on thousands of items. And Safeway began offering “1,200 new low prices.”

To offset lower profits, Safeway exec Gary Michaels said the chain would cut back on advertising and make “subtle” customer service changes: “We’ll still be bagging groceries, but I don’t know if we’ll be carrying them out.”

(Yes, Virginia, supermarket box boys and girls once carried groceries to cars.)

Meanwhile, at Tidyman’s Warehouse Market, Jim Tidyman said he didn’t think his customers were going anywhere. “We’re going to stay in business.”

Now, fast-forward to today.

The old Safeway at Fourth and Harrison is now the Goodwill Thrift Store. Albertsons moved to Ironwood Square. And now is a Safeway store. Tidyman’s is gone. And midtown Safeway remains.

Game, set, match — to Safeway.

Huckleberries

• Poet’s Corner: Like tiny stars upon the trees/they twinkle in the frosty breeze,/and throw their little rays of light/like hope into the cold black night — The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“Christmas Lights, Sherman Avenue”).

• Did You Know … that former mayor Jim Fromm (1982-85) waited all night in chilling rain to claim the No. 1 car license plates in Kootenai County for 1965? Jim, then a North Idaho College student, arrived with his sleeping bag at the courthouse's east door at 7:30 the previous night, Nov. 30, 1964. He estimated that he slept a half hour. But it was all worth it.

• Size Matters: The largest steer butchered by Y-J Packing Co., until that time, provided a prime beef dinner for the November 1959 meeting of the Coeur d’Alene Eagles. Moose Jamison of Y-Js, said the Hereford weighed 2,050 pounds on the hoof, 1,345 dressed.

• Thanksgiving Tradition: Each Thanksgiving, the aforementioned Moose Jamison wound some 80 antique clocks that he kept at Y-J’s. Among them was one made in 1846 which came west from Missouri with his grandma, then age 11. Moose began collecting the clocks when he moved here 20 years before from Pullman. And, he said, “One thing led to another.”

• Shovel of Dirt: You may know that The Coeur d’Alene Resort emerged from the bones of Bob Templin’s North Shore Resort. But did you know that Templin and Western Frontier execs discussed plans for their 90-room motel with Rotarians on Nov. 27, 1964? And then that everyone converged on the waterfront with shovels and a pick to break ground?

• Who’s Who? In Jim Carrey’s 2000 version of the “Grinch,” the Whos of Whoville had a Holiday Cheermeister. And so did Coeur d’Alene — in 1964. Only our version was called the Christmas Cheer Committee. To avoid duplication, it served as a clearinghouse for groups that made Christmas baskets for the needy. Seems like an early version of Christmas for All.

Parting shot

Anna (Patty Duke) Pearce expected quaint rather than spectacular when she was asked to serve as honorary chairwoman of the 2004 Festival of Trees. “I thought this was going to be a 'nice party,'’’ she told The Press. “But this was really beautifully done.” And the Academy Award-winning actress had another reason to be impressed by the Kootenai Medical Center (aka Kootenai Health) festivity. Three weeks before, she’d undergone single-bypass surgery at KMC’s Heart Center. “Tonight was so personal to me,” she said at the gala. “I know what it’s like to have a second chance.” Patty said she was still tired from the operation but was doing well: “I had wonderful doctors.” Gratefulness is a swell antidote for what this world throws at us.

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D.F. (Dave) Oliveria can be contacted at dfo@cdapress.com. For more old-time Coeur d’Alene photos and stories, please follow his Facebook page: D.F. Oliveria.

    In 2004, librarian Julie Meier poses for a retirement photo.
  

    In 1984, Archie McGregor manages the Midtown Albertsons.
  

    In 1964, future Mayor Jim Fromm, barely visible left, claims Kootenai County license plate No. 1 from Ann McCold of the motor vehicle division.
  

    In 1959, Mrs. Hilding Pierson examines a massive carcass as Y-J’s S.M. (Moose) Jamison, center, and Eagles manager Paul Rosenlund watch.
  

    In 1959, Moose Jamison of Y-J’s winds his clocks for Thanksgiving.
  

    In 1964, Rotarians attend the North Shore Resort groundbreaking with, from left, Western Frontiers execs William A. Reagan and Bob Templin, longtime Rotarians O.W. Edmonds and Lars O. Tendall, and Rotarian President Merle D. Stoddard.
  

    In 1964, Christmas Cheer Committee members examine Christmas baskets. Shown are: seated, from left, J. Henry Glindeman and Alice Eggert; standing, Chairman Henry Bell, S.C. Sanderson and Ron MacDonald.
  

    In 2004, Anna (Patty Duke) Pearce and husband Mike chat with guests at the Festival of Trees gala.