Summers in Sandpoint meant life was a ball on the beach

Sandpoint Furniture/Carpet One, home of The Ponderay Design Center and Selkirk Glass & Cabinets (208-263-5138), sponsors this column and it will appear in your Daily Bee each Sunday.

(Today, Patricia Mailey shares in her own words, with some editing due to space limitations, her love of family, her hometown, and the people that made it a secure and exciting place in which to live.)

“My grandfather, George Powell, worked for the railroad when he first came west. He quit the railroad; moved to Sandpoint, and purchased a steamboat he named the “Mountain Bell.” My grandmother, Nellie Powell, operated a little restaurant located at 111 South First Street that was called the Greenleaf Cafe.

“Near her café were Mrs. Himes Photography Studio and Maund’s City Paint Shop. On up First Street (Avenue) from the restaurant, was Gus Nelson’s City Meat Market and he furnished my grandma with all the meat she used in the restaurant. Across the street from the meat market was A1 Bower’s Baker and he delivered all the pies and pastry to grandma’s place; he was a very nice man. And let’s see, then up the street another block or so was the famous Panida Theater, which kept all of us, young and old, entertained winter, summer, spring — anytime. The Panida Theater was our little palace, we loved it.

“The best part growing up in Sandpoint was being able to run down to the beach and swim all day. Most kids in town took their swimming lessons from the Red Cross swimming instructors who came through every summer. They’d take all the kids and structure the classes to include the beginners, the intermediates, the Junior Life Savors, and the Senior Life Savers. Most of us went to all those classes and most of us thought we were excellent swimmers which, of course, we weren’t.

“The beach was very nice with golden sand and you could wade out and have the sand under your feet a long way out. And the float was always out there with the good diving board. That was the best part of growing up in Sandpoint.

“My sister and I lived in the lake most of the summer and we’d stay down there the better part of the day, every day. We didn’t have wrist watches in those days, so when the sun started going down behind Baldy Mountain, we knew it was time to go home and go into grandma’s restaurant and get our dinner.

“I thought Farmin School was wonderful and I have very fond memories of Farmin, all my teachers, and Mr. (Charlie) Stidwell, the principal. I believe there are a lot of people still around that were in the first grade with me. We had a teacher by the name of Mrs. Nell K. Irion and she taught us to read, to write, sing and everything. We loved her — she was a darling lady.

“Farmin was a good school and I loved it. It was warm in the winter but I remember one winter day when Mr. Stidwell got on the speaker and told everybody to bundle up and head for home because there was a blizzard coming. This was very interesting to all of us but we were not too sure what a blizzard was, but we bundled up. My grandmother’s house was only four blocks from the school, but that blizzard had me buried almost to my chin by the time I got to grandma’s house. So that was one fierce blizzard and with the snow drifting you couldn’t see anything, you just had to keep walking.

“There is something else I remember about winter in Sandpoint. The ice on the lake would freeze solid and a lot of people would be out on the lake with what they called duck blinds. They’d be shooting ducks and not far away some people would be ice fishing. I think they were catching whitefish so they could smoke them. Some of people sold the smoked fish around town.”

To be continued.