Homecoming

~~~1965 Sandpoint High School Homecoming Queen Joan Andrews~~~

This is Homecoming Week in Sandpoint. Every morning my friend Kathy has been sending photos of her two teens in their dress-up garb. They've been famous people, i.e., Cleopatra and Leif Erickson; health club workout fanatics, injury victims and pirates.

I'm sure that today will be some sort of red-and-white theme since this is the Big Game day. The Bulldogs (4-2 and coming off a big win over the Lewiston Bengals) are taking on the top football team in Alberta---undefeated. So, it should be a wild and woolly ending to the week.

As a student, I loved Homecoming Week. We didn't dress up so much back in the mid-'60s, but we put on quite a parade through town, and during our era the tradition of upending outdoor johns around the county still highlighted the week.

I have a picture in my mind and in my copy machine yearbook (my real yearbook burned in our house fire) of classmates marching through town, carrying a coffin bearing the effigy of our opposing team for Homecoming. I also remember getting all gussied up Homecoming Night in a wool suit and high heels to help present the flowers to our queen Joan Andrews (now Thompson).

Lots of good memories of Homecoming and lots unfolding for the high school students of today. It's a great tradition, regardless of how it's celebrated.

For my most recent column, I took off on a theme of "Homecoming" of sorts. This was inspired by a visit this summer to the Power House where I walked up to the second floor, found an office where a wholesale insurance business had set up shop, walked past the employees working at computers and moseyed into the boss's office.

I didn't know if he'd know me, but I knew him in advance. Hadn't seen him for decades, though, and having a little time on my hands that day, decided to go barge in on him at work. He took it all in his stride and did seem to know me.

Jim Parsons, son of Jim Parsons, Jr. (who's known for his photography, his tennis, his real estate work and his management of Condo del Sol) came back to Sandpoint a year or so ago. I knew he was in town but our paths had not yet crossed. When I learned that another friend and former student, who had come home about a year ago was working for Jim, I figured it was time to reconnect.

We had a nice visit that afternoon, and the idea for a column unfolded in the midst of our conversation. I wanted to do a column focusing on "Homecoming," a true reality. So, that's what I did.

And, the results now appear in the latest River Journal. Trish Gannon, the publisher, added a nice touch to the package by asking me to round up the senior photos of each interviewee---Jim Parsons, Kathy Allen Conger, Mitzi Hawkins and Toby McLaughlin. Then, I took current photos of each. It all makes for a fun piece---the photos, the life before high school graduation, the life after and life back in Sandpoint.

The piece will soon appear on www.riverjournal.com, and it's available in the print edition at River Journal drop spots around town.

An added benefit to this assignment came to me a little too late to include in the print version, so I'm going to feature it here this morning. I received a colorful family history summary from Jim Parsons, Jr., and found it fascinating as I'm sure other Sandpoint residents who know the Parsons family will.

So, enjoy:

The Page Family, compliments of Jim Parsons, Jr.

John Hardy Page and his wife Frances Barrett Page were the parents to three children, all of whom made Sandpoint home. Ones F. Page, Joseph Barrett Page and Ethel Page. Frances Page died at the home of her daughter in Sandpoint on January 2, 1933.

Ones, a doctor, known around town as O.F., moved to Sandpoint in 1900 from Pullman, Washington. O.F. and Joseph both performed as acrobats with Ringling Brothers Circus. O.F. built the Page HOspital and operated it until 1939 when it was sold. The hospital stood on the banks of Sand Creek. After the sale, it was named the Community Hospital.

O.F. was Sandpoint's first mayor and was elected to the state senate two different times. He organized the first Sandpoint city band and was an Army surgeon duirng World War I. He lived on a ranch at Wrencoe where he raised purebred Angus cattle. He passed away on August 24, 1941.

O.F. had four children, Olive, Hardy, Benjamin and Frances. Olive married Harry Nesbitt and lived in Sandpoint until her death April 29, 1977. Harry and Olive owned and operated resort cabins located at the present site of the Edgewater Lodge prior to their retirement. Harry Nesbitt died in 1970. The other children of John and Frances Page moved from the area.

Joseph B. Page came to Sandpoint in May of 1903 where he practiced dentistry. He was married to Blanche Crowley, and they had two sons, Hermann and John. Dr. Page was a past master of the Lakeside Lodge and passed away July 26, 1935. He was well known in the area as an expert fly fisherman.

Hermann married Matzie Land and left the area to become a U.S. Naval officer in the submarine service. They had two sons, Phill and Joe.

John Page stayed in Sandpoint and followed in his father's footsteps, practicing dentistry for many years. John was married to Lois Bowden; there were no children. John is remembered by many not only as their dentist but as a Sandpoint parade entrant riding his Pierce Arrow bicycle which had no chain and was gear driven.

Ethel Page was born at Fort Dodge April 18, 1975. She married William Westwood, and they moved to Sandpoint in 1921. William Westwood was pastor at the First Presbyterian Church until 1935. He passed away on April 27, 1937. Ethel Westwood was a practicing physician in Sandpoint. They had two daughters, Martha and Page.

~~~~~
And, so on this Homecoming Week in Sandpoint, the stories of the community's longtime families and its much-loved traditions continue on. Happy Friday, and GO BULLDOGS!