The first Miss North Idaho

Fern O’Toole credited her 15 minutes of fame nearly a century ago to a white bathing suit, a white flying helmet and a roaring biplane.

At 16, during the Great Depression, Fern was crowned as the first Miss North Idaho.

Fern was lovely, of course. But her parade “carriage,” a taxiing North Idaho Flying Service biplane, set her apart from the 40 other contestants Aug. 12, 1933.

At age 74, in July 1991, Fern fondly recalled her triumph.

On parade day, she was a Coeur d’Alene High sophomore, surnamed Skogland, which is Swedish for “woods.” Her family’s last name was appropriate. Her father was a logger near Fernwood, and her mother rode a logging train to St. Maries for Fern’s birth.

A publicity campaign, spearheaded by the Coeur d’Alene Press, had excited the town and attracted Miss North Idaho competitors. Organizer Beatrice Burtch Traxler lobbied Coeur d’Alene businesses to sponsor a girl for the contest and lined up prizes.

Fern had connections.

She was friends with two of the three men who guided the Travel-Air 2000 biplane in the parade: pilot Max Fennell of North Idaho Flying Service and his partner, Ted Anderson. Ted and another man walked at the wing tips “to hold the plane back.”

Fern recalled that the August parade day was hot.

As Fern’s entry passed the old Desert Hotel, manager Jim Hill tossed a pillow from the balcony for the teen to sit on — and yelled: “Hey, Fernie, here.”

For her prizes, Fern won a loving cup (which she engraved herself), a bouquet of roses, $1 in merchandise each from J.C. Penney and C.J. Breier Co. (worth $26 now), a cake from Pines Bakery, a marcel or finger-wave from Bob Inn Beauty and candy from Hart’s Sugar Bowl.

Also, she and runners-up Claudine Klaman (second) and Phyllis Peterson (third) received free airplane rides from North Idaho Flying Service.

“That didn’t make much difference to me,” Fern said. “I could fly anytime I wanted to.”

After high school, Fern worked as a legal secretary. Then, she was a secretary for the plumbing and heating supervisor during Farragut Naval Training Station construction. Finally, she worked for 10 years in Chicago for the Navy Seabees.

Fern died at age 82 in September 1999.

Aryans on Parade

Officially, the Aryan Nations marched four times in downtown Coeur d’Alene — in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2004.

Unofficially, they paraded five times.

On July 19, 1996, 25 racists staged an impromptu parade along Sherman Avenue sidewalks. They didn’t apply for a parade permit. So, the police department was caught off guard.

Attracted by the Aryan Nations World Congress, neo-Nazis, from as far away as Italy, started the march at 7:30 p.m. that Friday. They wore military fatigues and swastika arm bands.

They shouted slogans such as “wake up the race” and “white Christian love,” according to The Press. They faced anger and expletives.

“I wish they would stop shouting because they have nothing to say,” Mark Murdock of the Silver Valley told The Press.

The procession attracted an escort of eight Coeur d’Alene police officers.

Two neo-Nazis were arrested for spitting on the sidewalk.

Then, as the supremacists prepared to return to the Aryan Nations compound, north of Hayden Lake, police spotted an expired license tag on their van. The gendarmes wanted to impound the vehicle. But the marchers arranged for a private tow.

So much for the good old days.

Garden Party

An annual garden party, hosted by Duane and Lola Hagadone at their expansive Casco Bay estate, once was Coeur d’Alene’s hottest summer ticket.

Six hundred locals would jam onto Hagadone Hospitality tour boats on the downtown waterfront for a trip across Lake Coeur d’Alene to attend the gala.

Visitors savored the manicured property, with its water features, gardens, endless red geraniums and 30,000-square-foot Hagadone home.

On his part, Duane Hagadone was amazed by the turnouts.

At the July 2016 event, he told The Press: “When you sell 600 tickets, you get a 10 percent fall off, but on board we have a little over 600.”

Coeur d’Alene’s Native Son greeted each guest as he or she disembarked. And he assured the crowd that there was seating and potato salad for all. The entrée was salmon.

The Hagadones covered all expenses.

And their guests responded by opening their wallets wide for various charities. In 2016, the garden party raised $30,000 for Cancer and Community Charities (3Cs).

Pleased, Duane Hagadone said: “We’re very proud to help.”

Movin’ On Up

On July 21, 1981, developer Terry Phillips was granted a permit to build a 48-unit condo project, 14 stories above the downtown shoreline.

Today, city planners would shrug at the idea. Several high-rises are taller than that now.

But 45 years ago, the Save Our Shoreline movement was in full swing. And the plan by Phillips to build his $11 million Marina Place, just east of the North Shore Resort Hotel (Coeur d’Alene Resort), triggered a fierce political backlash.

In fall 1981, voters elected a reform ticket that adopted strict lakeshore height limits: Mayor Jim Fromm and council members Jim Michaud, Steve McCrea and Bob Brown.

Ultimately, the bedeviled Phillips sold his property to businessman Duane Hagadone, who built his 18-story resort. In exchange for a taller building, Hagadone agreed to increase public access to the lake by constructing the floating boardwalk.

As for height limits today in downtown Coeur d’Alene — ahaha.

Huckleberries

• Poet’s Corner: Bright sun on the water, / bright sun on a sail, / bright sun on much skin / that’s exceedingly pale — The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“Summer at City Beach”).

• Answer Man: Which of the following is NOT true about G.O. Phippeny? 1. He was a principal of Coeur d’Alene’s junior and senior highs. 2. He was Coeur d’Alene’s longest serving school superintendent (1934-1958). 3. He served as mayor in the 1950s. 4. During WWII, he and his wife, Marguerite, regularly hosted Farragut naval trainees. 5. A Coeur d’Alene city park is named after him (Seventh and Montana). Answer: No. 3.

• Railroad Fix: It’s hard to believe today that railroad tracks once crossed the lawn of what is now The Coeur d’Alene Resort. In July 1981, those tracks, which served the Rutledge Mill on the east end of town, needed repair. The bedding was failing. So, Burlington Northern crews went to work. The restored tracks were then used until the mill shut in 1987, later to become the site of The Resort Golf Course.

• Whatta Deal: In 1951, for just $1,650, Kootenai County residents could buy a Farragut building to live in. The compact structures had two bedrooms, a living room and a kitchen. Milo and Dorothea Anderson fashioned their new Hacienda Motel, north of what is now U.S. 95 and Appleway, from the Farragut surplus units. The owners then advertised their 30-room motel as the “finest and largest” in town.

Parting Shot

In spring 1956, a large earthworm (see photo) divided into three camps the young children of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Gavin of Coeur d’Alene.

An unknown photographer from The Press captured the kids’ reaction to the wriggler.

Mike, 3, was described in a cutline as puzzled. Norma, 5, who held the worm, allegedly expressed “feminine horror.” Meanwhile, Billy, 6, “a man-of-the-world,” according to The Press, sized up the worm as “possible fish bait.”

The photo, titled "Gardening Is Full of Surprises for Small Fry,” harkens back to Coeur d’Alene’s halcyon days. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

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D.F. (Dave) Oliveria can be contacted at [email protected].

    In 1996, a woman outside the Iron Horse restaurant in downtown Coeur d’Alene was restrained from confronting neo-Nazis.
  

    In 2016, host Duane Hagadone greeted guests dockside at his annual Casco Bay charity fundraiser.
  

    In 2016, outgoing 3Cs President Judy Gardner, left, huddled with hostess Lola Hagadone at her Casco Bay charity event.
  

    In 1981, developer Terry Phillips presented an artist’s rendering of his proposed 14-story condo project.
  

    In 1971, community boosters G.O. and Marguerite Phippeny celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.
  

    In 1981, Burlington Northern workers fixed a low spot along the train tracks in front of the old North Shore Resort Hotel.
  

    In 1951, a Coeur d’Alene Press advertisement offered surplus Farragut Naval Training Station houses for $1,650.
  

    In 1956, the Gavin children (from left): Mike, age 3, Norma, 5, and Billy, 6, reacted to a large earthworm.