Foursome found fun playing neighborhood games

(Sitting with Jane Evans at her dining room table was an experience I will long remember. Erik Daarstad and I were at her home doing an interview for the Sandpoint Centennial Movie.

Only a small part of the interview can be used in this article but I want to share with you some excerpts, in Jane’s own words, that will give you a glimpse of her Sandpoint, as well as depict the spirit of Frank and Jane Evans and all they have meant to our town. A local physician was heard to say, “Jane and Frank Evans are real icons of this community.” As you read Jane’s story, I am sure you will agree that this accolade is well deserved.)

“I was born in Libby, Mont., on Oct. 19, 1919. My dad’s name was Albert Pier and my mother’s name was Myrtle. They were married in 1916 and my mother taught a little bit before they were married.

“My dad built the first telephone company in Libby. He and a partner, by the name of Cady, started a Ford garage and sold Model T Fords. The dealership in Sandpoint became available and they opened Cady and Pier here in 1925.

“Before I went to school, I just had fun. When I was little my dad taught me how to use hammers and screwdrivers and things like that. We built things together and that has come in handy.

“I was an outdoor kind of kid. When I was in grade school, we played kick the can, hide and seek, cowboys and Indians, and Tarzan.

“My friend across the street, Billie Ann Von Canon, had a wonderful maple tree that we would climb. We would tie ropes up there and swing on them and while playing Tarzan, I learned to yodel. In my neighborhood, there was Lois Adam, her dad owned the Economy Grocery, and there was Mary Guy, and Billie Ann Von Canon. We were a foursome.

“I started school at Washington but from the third grade on, I went to Farmin School on Second and Main. Charlie Stidwell was the principal. I walked to school, I often played along the way, and sometimes Charlie would be standing at the top of the steps watching me. I would be trying to get in before the bell and would take two steps at a time. He would make me go back, start over, and take one step at a time. If I was late, he would stand there with a rubber hose in his hand and tap it at me, but he never hit me.

“The junior high school was on the second floor of Farmin. I remember I had Mrs. Hunter as my teacher in the seventh and eighth grade.

“During recess, we played baseball a lot. I was being kept in one recess, because I had done something or other, and there was a baseball game going outside and I couldn’t stand it. I slipped out the window, went down the fire escape, joined the baseball game, and got back in without being caught. I always felt bad about that because it was Mrs. Hunter that I walked out on.

“I went to high school on Euclid and Pine. I was in the band and played alto saxophone, I sang in a quartet, and I was the queen of the honor society carnival one year.

“I taught at the high school for one year when Frank was over seas. I taught English and journalism and I was responsible for the Cedar Post and the Monticola.

“I knew Frank in the seventh grade when he was just a little guy. We started dating when we were sophomores in high school.

“I finished high school in 1937, and I went to the University of Idaho and received my degree in English and music education. I was really involved while I was in college. I was the business manager of the yearbook, I practiced taught in band, and I sang with the Bandoleers. I was still dating Frank while in college and both of us finished in 1941.

“After finishing the university, I went to Nez Perce to teach school and Frank went into flight training. While I was teaching in Nez Perce, war was declared.

“When Frank finished flight training, I left my position early and we got married in Boise because he could not get leave to come home to Sandpoint.  We were together just over three months before he had to go overseas. When he left, I came home and taught at Sandpoint High School.

“Frank came back home in 1943. He was assigned to a base in Sioux City, Iowa and we were there about two years. He was discharged from there and we came back home.

“Besides having our five children, Carolyn, Stephen, Thomas, John and Mary, I kept quite busy. I taught voice lessons at home. I took kids everyday on their study period and after school. I was still studying voice myself and going back and forth to Spokane for lessons.

“I was a PEO and the chapter president. I was the director of a women’s chorus that sang here and in Coeur d’Alene. I was the choir director for the Presbyterian Church for 34 years. I also taught Sunday school and adult Bible classes.

“I was involved in the original Little Theater and was music director of the musicals. I was the concert chairperson for the Community Concert Association for seven years. I had many dealings with the Panida because we brought our artist there for our community Concert series. We had a lot of interest shown until television came in and the audience dropped off. The Panida was closed and they would not open it for concerts any more — the Little Theater had to perform at the fairgrounds instead of the Panida. All of this led to fighting to save the Panida Theater for the community.”

(Susan Bates-Harbuck and Laurel Wagers joined Jane in a very successful crusade to save the Panida. It was through their determination and dedication that the Panida has survived.)

To be continued