A bit of 'official' trivia
G.O. Phippeny was the Coeur d'Alene School District's longest-tenured superintendent, serving from from 1930—1958. He was also a district teacher, principal and coach, not unheard of at the time. Phippeny is the namesake of G.O. Phippeny Park at 827 N. Eighth St., the site of what was the original 1910 Coeur d'Alene High School.
Photo courtesy of the Coeur d'Alene School District
North Idaho has a long history of dedicated leaders and elected officials who spend their time, treasure and talents toiling over municipal decisions, school policies, county issues and more.
Here are some highlights showing the commitment and service of local leaders, past and present.
COEUR d'ALENE SCHOOL DISTRICT
District officials believe Vern Newby to have been the longest-serving trustee in the Coeur d'Alene School District. He retired in June 2010 after 21 consecutive years.
"Our district's longest-serving superintendent has been G.O. Phippeny, who served from 1930-1958 in that role, and was a district teacher, principal and coach — not unheard of at the time," Deputy Superintendent Mike Nelson said Thursday.
Phippeny is the namesake of G.O. Phippeny Park at 827 N. Eighth St., the site of the original 1910 Coeur d'Alene High School.
CITY OF POST FALLS
The city of Post Falls now has its youngest City Council in history, with council members in their 40s and 30s and one, Kenny Shove, in his 20s. In the 132 years since Post Falls was incorporated, only seven women have served on the City Council — Karen Streeter, Sandra Shopbell, Betty Ann Henderson, Jackie McAvoy, Linda Wilhelm, Kerri Thoreson and now Samantha Steigleder. Henderson was 77 when first elected and re-elected at 81.
At four terms — 16 years — Thoreson has earned the honor of being the longest-serving council member.
Of Post Falls' last four mayors, all first served on the City Council. The River City has never had a woman mayor.
Post Falls City Administrator Shelly Enderud shared a unique situation regarding one of Post Falls' previous mayors, the late Clay Larkin, after he took oath one year.
"He was presiding over the meeting and had an aneurism and collapsed at the dais," Enderud said. "This was in the old City Hall and the ambulance service at the time was right behind us and we had medical assistance in a matter of minutes and he survived."
COEUR d'ALENE, POST FALLS OVERLAP
Enderud noted it is unique that Coeur d'Alene Mayor Jim Hammond was a councilman for the city of Post Falls, then mayor, then city administrator, then a state senator, then Coeur d'Alene city administrator and now he is Coeur d'Alene's mayor.
CITY OF HAYDEN
Hayden's first and only female mayor was Wilma Hildreth, who was in office from March 1977 to April 1978. She was on the Hayden City Council prior to that. The first chairman of Hayden Village was George F. Johnson, who served from July 1955 to April 1959 after the city was officially incorporated June 27, 1955.
Hayden's longest-tenured mayor was Super 1 Foods founder Ron McIntire, who was at the helm for 16 years. He also served on the Coeur d’Alene School Board, the Avondale Irrigation District Board and the board of directors for Idaho Independent Bank.
KOOTENAI COUNTY
Only four women have ever been elected to serve on the Kootenai County Board of Commissioners: Evalyn Adams, Katie Brodie, Jai Nelson and Leslie Duncan. Many commissioners were elected several times, going back to 1932, and many were of the Democratic party until Republican Bob MacDonald was elected in 1992. The board has been strictly Republican ever since.