Archive - 2011
September 1st
A memorial service was held on Aug. 31 at the Colfax United Methodist Church with the Rev. Lynn Nelson officiating, for former Elk resident Jack M. Pittman, 89, who passed away in Spokane on Aug. 25.
Born on Oct. 26, 1921, at Medical Lake to the late John and Louise Pittman, he lived his early life in the Medical Lake/Spangle area. The family moved to Elk where he graduated from Riverside High School in 1939.
He briefly attended Eastern Washington College of Education and then enlisted in the Navy in 1940. He served in both the Pacific and Atlantic theaters.
August 30th
On Sept. 12, 2006, Daren LaFayette was working with a crew from Sharp-Line Industries on Flowery Trail Road near Chewelah. In a matter of seconds, the 19-year-old made the ultimate sacrifice to ensure the safety of his fellow workers.
Now, a half a decade later, the Riverside Baseball Boosters made sure LaFayette’s sacrifice will always be remembered.
The Riverside School Board last week gave the OK to rename the baseball field in LaFayette’s name.
August 25th
A Chattaroy man suffered serious injuries when the airplane he was piloting crashed on Aug. 23 near an airstrip at Priest Lake.
Dr. John Hershey, 86, was trying to land his Cessna 152 at an airstrip near Cavanaugh Bay when the airplane crashed into some nearby woods.
August 23rd
A Springdale lumber mill that lay dormant for five years has a new lease on life and a new job description.
The Borgford BioEnergy Project purchased the defunct Springdale Lumber Co. in October 2009. The mill, which had shutdown almost five years earlier, contained most of the equipment for a specialty beam sawmill. The company decided to expand the operation to include a bio-energy park.
Lillian Grace Koehler passed away on July 19, 2011.
She was born on Feb. 2, 1925, in Kettle Falls, Wash., the youngest of six children to Jonathan and Lovena Reed. She grew up in Ione, Wash., and graduated as Class Valedictorian in 1943.
On Jan. 20, 1943, she married Robert Koehler. They were married 58 1/2 years. During World War II, while her husband served in the Army, she was employed at Galena Air Depot, now Fairchild Air Force Base, plotting and tracking troop movements.
James M. Thompson passed thru the “Golden Gates” on Aug. 19, 2011, at the Spokane Veterans Affairs Community Living Center.
James was met at the “Golden Gates” by his father, Milas D. “Gramps” Thompson; his mother, Pamela Wheaton; little brother, Patrick A. “Pat” Thompson; and a niece, Angel Thompson.
James was born in Guthrie, Okla., on March 11, 1960, and raised in Federal Way, Wash. He resided in Springdale since 1994.
A graveside service was held on Aug. 20 at the Wildrose Prairie Cemetery for former Wildrose Prairie resident Yekaterina S. Makhanova, 85, who passed away on Aug. 17 at her Newman Lake home.
Born in 1926 at Kirovograd, the Ukraine, she later moved to Tajikistan and married Andrey Makhanova at the age of 19.
Mr. Makhanova passed away in 1988. She came to Spokane in 1996 to be with her children.
Mrs. Makhanova is a member of the Pilgrim Slavic Church in Spokane.
August 19th
Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. on Aug. 20 at the Clayton Community Church followed with interment in the Williams Valley Cemetery with military honors and flag presentation by the U.S. Navy Honor Guard for former Clayton resident Adelbert A. “Del” Johnson, 64, who passed away on Aug. 10 in Bellevue, Wash.
Born in Clayton to Evelyn and Roy Johnson, he graduated from Deer Park High in 1966, (leaving with extra credits because he loved school so much.)
August 17th
Once again, Stevens County voters rejected a plan to raise the Stevens County Library District’s levy rate to 50 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation.
In preliminary primary election results, voters overwhelmingly rejected the plan 5,332-3,635. A simple majority of yes votes was needed for passage.
Library district officials had hoped that the restored levy rate would augment the shrinking annual operating budget.
• In the only other primary election race, Deer Park School Board incumbent Jeff Whittle easily outpolled his two challenger.
August 16th
Motor vehicle violations led to the arrest of a 40-year-old Elk man on Aug. 14 for possession of a stolen motor vehicle.
Spokane County Sheriff’s Deputy Jeff Shover was patrolling the area of 37000 North Newport Highway about noon when he spotted a Toyota pickup that had an obscured license plate, broken windshield and no mud flaps. He stopped the truck and identified the driver as James E. White.
