Welcome to the loyal and true podcast. This is
a podcast where we connect with hot lodge logger
grads. I'm Shelby Kearns, class of 1993, and
I am coming to you from Washington, DC. Hey,
everybody. I'm Cam Crane, class of 1988, talking
to you from the greater Nashville area. And we
are thrilled to have our dear friend on with
us today, Temple Anderson -Kinion, class of 1988.
Hey, Temple, how are you doing? Hey. I'm great.
I'm good. Thanks for having me. Thanks for joining
us. Great to have you here. Hey, where are you
right now? Where are you talking to us from?
Literally, I'm in my office in my house in Lewiston,
Idaho. Lewiston, right on. Fantastic. All right.
All right. Uh, you know, so there's a whole notion,
uh, about, you know, quote, being back. What
is it like to be back if there is a back to be
back to? Yeah, it's so I moved away in 2003 to
Las Vegas and lived there for 21 years and came
back last year It is funny because everybody
says oh you're back. We didn't know you're back
And I'm like, so I guess if you live in the greater
Quad Cities area and the small town You know
what? I mean if you're close and be able to go
see your parents for Sunday dinner and then come
home and fall asleep on the couch or something,
that's back. You're close, right? So it's really
cool to be back. Some things stay the same, which
is very comforting because I like tradition.
I like what to expect. But a lot of things are
very different about North Idaho and the Potlatch
area, which is nice too. I like being back. close
with my family and friends. Best friend from
high school. Well, my lifetime best friend, Carla.
Carla. Carla. We know she's listening. Yeah.
Oh, she will now because I'll tell her. She's
got to. She lives a few minutes for me. Literally.
I didn't know she was in Lewiston. That's awesome.
Yeah. Yeah. And there's a few other people down
here too. So it's kind of fun. And you know who
your real friends and those solid people are
because they're happy to see you. There's not
very many people that are like, Oh, you're back.
But, Oh, it's good to be at this point in my
life back closer with family, especially parents.
And 21 years away is no joke. Take us back to
Vegas. I mean, tell us a little more about that
path, uh, that led you down to Vegas and what
you were doing down there. Well, Vegas was not,
um, I was kind of wanted to leave the area, you
know, the kid and, and, um, not that I didn't,
I don't have anything against the area. I just
wanted to branch out. Right. And I got, I went
to college at the U of I's, Vandal, go Vandals.
Go Vandals. Go Vandals. Um, and, uh, got married
and. He was more of a, I kind of want to stick
around. Like our family and our friends are here
and we, you know, it's a great place. North Idaho
is a great place, right? Where we grew up. It
was, it's lovely. And so, you know, you put the
work in and you, and you live your life. And
I kind of was just like, dude, can we go somewhere?
Like, can we, and I thought he would, because
we lived in Genesee at the time, I thought he'd
be like, All right, how do you feel about living
in Lewiston? I mean, I thought that kind of a
move, right? And he's like, what do you think
about Vegas? And I'm like, what, what, what Vegas?
Are you kidding? And he worked for Clearwater
paper and they, um, AKA formerly potlatch. And,
um, he was like, yeah, they're putting in a new
machine. There's already an existing plant down
there, but they're putting in a new paper machine.
And so he would have been, he was part of this.
We said yes and he was allowed to go. There was
probably about a half a dozen guys from Lewiston
that were down there, but then everybody else
was from all over like Arkansas, Maine, all those
places. He helped commission that machine. That's
how I ended up in Vegas. I worked for UNLV for
a while doing events. Then I was burnt out and
I was like, maybe I want to pursue my writing.
I worked at Starbucks for a while and then just
was doing my writing on the side. Eventually,
it evolved into being able to do a freelance
career. That's what I did for the last about
10 years in Vegas is freelance writing. It started
out as we'll live in Vegas, we'll give up five
years. And then we'll move back, you know, to
the area, whatever. But life, life has other
plans for you. And they're like, I mean, it's
like, no, we're going to go ahead and just completely
destroy the economy and make it so that you can't
move. So, yeah, survive that because our house
was underwater and, you know, everybody can,
2008, 2009 mess. So, yeah. So my husband decided
that he needed to retire and do something else.
And so that's how we ended up back. I, I'm a
huge fan of your writing career and I want to
go back real quick. Cause I think, you know,
you're just go vandals and then you had to go
work for UNLV. So I just need to double click
on that. Was that weird to be the lone vandal
down there and rub on? Yeah. The, I remember
getting interviewed and they were like something,
you know, they asked, well, why should we hire
you? And I'm like, because why can't a Vandal
be a rebel? And I'm pretty sure that's a great
line. I love that tagline. Hey, do you, do you
work in marketing? Maybe. Yeah. So yeah. Weird
because I didn't know their traditions and, and
they're very young. university compared to the
U of I or WSU, you know, the university, you
know, we were around hundred and some years and
they were like, we're celebrating our 50th. So
it was a really interesting time to be working
there because it was their anniversary, but it
was, you know, they're young. And so they, they
didn't have a lot of the same processes and systems
in place, but not, they were a great university.
So, I mean, it was just very different. But yeah,
Idaho played down there. Um, but I wasn't working
for UNLV at the time, but it was kind of interesting
because I had some friends who were like, Oh,
Rebels are going to beat the Vandals and actually
we beat you, but yes. So good times. Yep. Higher
education is a good place to be, but yeah, I
work in the private sector now. So. It's really
exciting that you were able to pursue your writing
and that part of your career too. I mean, that's
such a different path than most people take.
Yeah, I didn't ever expect to be able to make
a living writing, but why not try? And I was
in a really safe kind of lifestyle. My husband
worked really hard and he made pretty good money
in Vegas. I was sort of a penny pincher and was
like, we're going to make this work. And so we
were able to have me not have that definite salary
every month that you could plan on. So that's
kind of an exciting thing to live through is
that kind of freelance thing. But I had such
great opportunities in Las Vegas. There's a huge
writing contingent down there as there might
be in every town. I don't know, but I mean, there
was writing groups and critique groups, and I
mean, I had signings. I could do signings, you
know, anytime. And I always wanted to be a writer.
Like in high school, I remember those were in,
you know, middle or I guess they don't call it,
we called it junior high. I remember those being
my favorite classes. This is the English classes
where I could write. And those were very influential
to me. And I finally got to go back and see if
I could pursue it. So I did. And thanks to Cameron,
ironically, that we're on this show together,
he was the one that finally kicked me in the
butt and got me to just decide to go for self
-publishing my first book because nobody wanted
it. And he's like, well, why can't you just do
it yourself? And I don't know. That day we talked.
And I think I called you or you called me. I
can't remember. I think you called me and you
were like, what's up? I'm checking in on you.
Yeah. And I was a mess. I know that's such a
cam thing, right? What's going on? How can I
let fire into your ass today? And totally did.
It was the right words at the right time. And
I was like, he's right. So, you know, I self
-published and then that's kind of where everything
took off. No, please tell us more. Yeah. Um,
that first book was, um, just, you know, a book
that was in my head and I just wanted to get
it out. It, you know, it's a, it's a fiction,
um, kind of middle grade. I mean, anybody could
read it. Most of my fans are, you know, my parents
and my friends and family, but I'm very happy
because. They got the word out too. It's about
buttons that take this boy on a journey to learn
about his family history. He uses them to save
his grandma when she's ill. It's a great story
and I didn't come up with it. It was a conversation
I had with my mother -in -law and that was the
spark to the story. It takes the village sometimes
to make a good story and so that's how it started.
I had lots of opportunities. I joined a couple
of groups and I did signings. The best signings
are when you get invited to go to a middle school
or a grade school. how you can write and how
you can publish your own book. Those were the
best. That was what I did it for, is to be able
to inspire. I don't know if I ever did, but they
were great for me. They were the best events,
were the signings that involved kids and the
talks. Then that just parlayed into, I have a
writing gig with Home and Harvest magazine, published
out of Moscow and Moscow, Idaho. And, um, I,
that's a bi -monthly and I just, yeah, I mean,
it's a great opportunity. It's like where I just
sort of release these stories. And, um, I think
I'll have a book out of those stories. I bet
you will. Yeah. I have a, I have an ongoing series
about a kid farm kid from the seventies. Geez.
Does that sound familiar? Shout out farm kids.
Yeah, from the 70s. From the 70s. The best farm
kids are from the 70s. There you go. People with
the trouble we got into, I mean, and it wasn't
really trouble, you know? So, yeah, so his name
is Otis, so I'm hopefully - Otis. Otis. Yeah.
And then I had an opportunity to write with,
to co -author with the University of Idaho president,
Scott Green. That was a complete shift because
I was writing for younger audiences and fiction
and fun. It's like, would you like to co -author
a book with me about budgets and spending? I'm
like, sure, whatever. It's Shelby's world right
there. I think that's very fun. I don't know
what you're talking about. It's very fun. It
is. Once I got into it, I was like, this is fascinating
because I am a words person, not a numbers person.
I had to talk to a lot of people a lot of times
to get it to click in my head, but thankfully
everybody was very supportive on that piece.
I'd known him. I worked at the U of I at the
alumni office before we moved to Vegas. and did
events and he was living in New York at the time.
So that's how I met him was like 20 years before
he became, well, okay, maybe not that many years.
I'm not that old, but maybe like 10, 15 years
before he became president. So we've known each
other and why he picked me, I think he just knew
my writing style and trusted me. I'm sure trust
had a lot to do with that temple. And look, you'd
put yourself out there. You know, you put button
boxes out there and, and I'm sure that was a
validator as well. Yeah. No, you did it. You
did. I just need to give you a little encouragement.
You know, that's all. That's what it takes. I
think sometimes is somebody just to say, it's
a great story temple. Do it. Yeah, just do it.
Just do it. So when you think about that and
both what you've done, but also how you had the
guts to do that, was there anything from your
years in Potlatch or at Potlatch High School
that really influenced that success? I think,
yeah, I mean, when you look, of course, I went
to school in Potlatch all 12 years. They didn't
have kindergarten when I was there. Otherwise,
I would have gone to kindergarten. Um, I, I,
but just kind of zeroing in on our high school
years, that was a great time for us to be kids,
but also young adults, you know, you're that
cool in between time. It's really hard, I think,
but it's, it's a cool, but in between time where
you can, you can test the waters and you can
see, gee, do I look, do I like this class? Do
I like math? Do I like science? Do I like English?
And, you know, you test the waters and, you know,
yeah, we're all graded and everything and that
plays into a lot of it. But I think you finally
kind of decide, geez, I really am not fond of
math because I'm not very good at it. So I'm
not going to do that probably for a living, but
I really like writing and maybe there's something
to do with, you know, with writing. And I had
great teachers. I mean, I loved, I liked school.
I was not good at certain things, but I had great
teachers, right? And so to name a few, Mrs. Jacqueline
Height, she was our in Leon, and then Mike Barrett.
And they, you know, they incurred, they were,
you know, they were teachers, they had to grade
you and, and critique you. And, you know, sometimes
it was rough, you'd get that. paperback and there
was like red pen, it looked like a murder scene
all over your paper, right? But it was a fairly
safe environment to learn whether you really
wanted to do that. And I did, I loved writing.
But I didn't ever think I could make a living
off of it. And so I was more of a communications
major in college and became an event planner
and, you know, did little writing things on the
side, but nothing major. So, um, I don't know
if I, cause I was a pretty timid person back
then. I didn't have a lot of, yeah, I'm going
to do this. I didn't eat. I was like, I'm just
going to lay low, fly under the radar and not
be on anyone's radar, you know? But in high school
you had a lot of agency, I would say. agency,
like you, you would stand up for yourself and
you were, you were a great student. I think you're
selling yourself a little short. There was that
top tier in our class of those, those that you
were up there. And I was like, wow, look at,
look at them go. Cause you, you took it seriously.
And, you know, actually a whole group of us did
in different areas, looking, looking back at
that. Uh, and the two, the combination of, uh,
heightened variant was, was a very different
and cool combo. If you look at it that way, her
style compared to his style. Yeah, very different,
very different. But that's kind of, yeah, I,
I feel like she, she was more on the creative,
you know, let it kind of fly. Let's see how this
works. Yeah, we got to worry about grammar and
the mechanics of it. And yeah, I'll check you
on that, but let's, you know, let's let your
imagination go or. Yeah, but don't worry so much
about if it makes sense. I remember her telling
me that once. And I just, I think it was the
first short story that I'd written in a long
time at that point. I was like, okay, fine. I'll
just like make stuff up. Fine. And then, and
I did, and then she was like, that was really
good. I was like, what? Like they almost tell
you not to think about it. Yeah. Like you just
infect stuff and that's okay. Okay. Wow. Yeah,
it is. I've always thought it's hard. You know,
we come from this little town and, you know,
growing up on a farm, you don't see people making
a living by writing or doing other things. It's
hard to know until you get out and you can kind
of see what those paths maybe are. um, different
ways that, you know, that you can use those skills
and, and do things you enjoy. But it's hard when
you, you know, mostly, you know, see, you know,
other farmers or what have you. Yeah. And I think
growing up in a small town, you, um, you know,
I, I, I loved it. I had, I have very fond memories
and, and, you know, with my family farming, but
also at PHS and in grade school, whatever that,
you know, college is a great town. It's a very
community oriented town. And I have very few,
um, like where I was like, yeah, I remember this
time it was kind of tough, but those are, those
tend to be memories that I think everybody has
as adolescents, you know, like bullying and.
and just not feeling self -confident about your
- I mean, I think that's pretty typical for that
age, no matter where you live. But I had a friend
one time and we were talking about growing up
in a small town. She grew up in a small town
in the Midwest and probably even smaller than
Potlatch. She's like the one thing I love and
always took away from being in a small town was
that you could be a big deal on a small town
because everybody knew you. And, you know, some
of us are like, well, that that was good most
of the time, unless I was doing something I wasn't
supposed to be doing, which was never me, of
course. But it would get off your parents before
you did. Right. You don't know either because
you were always doing stuff you were supposed
to be doing. But, you know, but you kind of you
have that opportunity. At least you could be
in sports. You could be. You could be in music.
You could be a cheerleader. You could be a stack
keeper. You could be all these great things.
And you were somebody. You were somebody that
the community recognized. And I like that thought
about, you know, you could sort of like test
the waters and get to be in the spotlight if
you wanted to be. in a small town. And so I guess,
I don't know, there were a lot of years in there.
I just was like, I'm not going to be able to
do this. Like I don't, I didn't have a lot of
self -confidence. It's that imposter syndrome
thing. I think we all have sometimes at one time
or another. But the more I was into it and people
like Cameron, who was like, Temple, just do it.
What have you got to lose? Then I think that
kind of made me realize, yeah, I was like, I've
wanted to do this my whole life, so why not?
And that, you know, I think that starts back
in those years, you know? It is kind of, it's
interesting. One of the things that I also took
away from being from a small town is you can
do all of the things, right? I talked to people
from, you know, so many friends who went to bigger
schools and you really had to concentrate on
one thing, like you could be in the band or you
could... you know, play volleyball, but you couldn't
do everything. And in politics, you could, you
know, we kind of mentioned this earlier, you
could do all of it and you could see what you
liked and you could try different things. And
I think that is a big, a big advantage, too,
of just trying all those things. But then sometimes
when you leave and you go out into this big world,
then that imposter strip hits because you're
like, well, I didn't just concentrate on this
one thing or I don't have this background or
we didn't have that class or whatever it is.
So it's really cool then seeing people like you
who have made a living with their writing and
who have done these things and then you know
that you can do it you can come from the small
town and maybe we didn't have the most advanced
class or the Writers group or you know all these
things that you talk to people from bigger schools
that they did and I think that's really cool
Yeah, I do too. And that's a great point. We
were allowed to just do whatever and there was
people who did things like they'd go do one thing
and then they You know, like I was in drill team
and a cheerleader. So five minutes before the
end of the second quarter, you'd race under the
bleachers and into Mr. Heinz's room science room
and change into your drill team costume and go
do the thing and then race back and get your
cheerleader uniform on and race back out. And
it was just like nobody thought anything about
that at all, including us. It was just allowed
to we were allowed to do what we wanted. And
I think that that is a great foundation for what
you can do later in life with that. That is very
helpful. Is this in real memory or did this not
happen? But I feel like the basketball players,
like you'd be having a basketball game and maybe
if you're on varsity, you would play in the band
during the JV game if they played or whatever.
But if you were on the JV team, you would definitely,
then you'd... You know, shower, put your clothes
on and go play in the band for the varsity game.
Yeah. That was a real thank show. Absolutely.
That happens in a big school. I don't think you
get to do that. You wouldn't have that opportunity.
No. And part of it was they just needed us. You
know, I remember even having that opportunity
in eighth grade when we were in the, like you
said, Temple, the junior high, getting to go
up and play in the pep band with the high school
kids. Oh yeah. That was so fun. To go to state
or go to districts first and then, and you know,
be so rowdy and have a blast. And then go up
later? Yeah. Fantastic experience. I wanted to
do it. Like you wanted to be part of not just
your class, you know, you wanted to be part of
that, that high school community. You wanted
to be part of, of what was going on in town.
And not that there wasn't other stuff happening,
but let's face it, if there was a basketball
game or a football game. That was the thing that
was going on for the most part in town and a
lot of people were there not everybody but I
mean a lot of people were there and You wanted
to be part of the excitement. I mean I did I
didn't want to sit at home I wanted to be out
with my out doing what my friends were doing
and and Just being part of that community and
it's funny when I lived in Las Vegas There were
very few people I met that were born and raised
there because it's such a, you know, come in,
come out, do whatever town. Um, and there was
very little sense of community. They didn't have
any kind of community day. I mean, they had sort
of celebrations and stuff like that. They could
have gone to the parade or whatever, but it wasn't
like small town celebrations are. And it wasn't
like, um, you went to the grocery store and you'd
run into your teacher, or you know what I mean?
So it really, as I've grown older, I'm like,
that was what made it magic, was that there was
that beautiful sense of community. And it was
the potlatch community, but I don't know, I think
we all had fun in high school, not just with
our class. Like you knew everybody three or four
years ahead of you and three or four years behind
you, right? And that was your, that was your
community. And I, you know, I don't know if a
lot of people had that, especially with bigger
classes, you know, one of 500 kids in your freshman
class, you know, that's just a very different
experience. So I'm really very thankful that
I had that. And growing up on a farm and just
a logging community, you know, those two types
of lifestyles, which are very important to our
society. And I just, yeah, I mean, Paulette was
just a great place to grow up. And that sense
of community too. I mean, no one, no one is more
generous in a time of need than people in a small
town taking care of their own. And, you know,
I think that's also very, very inspiring. It
was a great way to grow up and teach that community.
You know, that sort of, you help other people.
You help other people. Somebody's broken down
on the side of the road. You pull over and. Help
them. Right. Yeah. And you said, how can, okay,
where, where do you live? Do you need a ride?
Do you need a flight? You know, we can help you
with the flat and other people would pull over
too. Oh, you know, and that was just the way
it was. Yeah. And if he had like a fire in the
field, everybody dropped everything. Oh, everybody.
Can you see the smoke and just go run? Yeah.
Yeah. Well, I mean, I'm, I don't, I've only lived
a few places, right? So I'm sure there's people
who live in other areas that are like, well,
yeah, we had that too, but. I don't know any,
you know, I don't know any other experience.
And so I'm glad I had that experience. And it
is, it's like, it didn't matter what we were
involved with. If we were doing a car wash to
raise funds for cheerleading uniforms, or we
were selling calendar ads for Junior Miss or
whatever it was. You know, everybody pitched
in and ported, you know, the kids. You know,
it's all for the kids all for the kids I forgot
about those junior miss calendars because then
we also knew anybody's birthday like birthdays
and I remember that I remember like every morning
I thought my mom still has that calendar and
every morning looking at it And see whose birthday
it was. Yeah It was pretty Facebook pre -internet.
You got to have yeah. Yeah, it was we were we
were way ahead of that Facebook birthday notification
thing and There are still people's birthdays
that I know because I looked them up on that
calendar. And you'd go through, I remember going
through like, oh, I want to find out when so
-and -so's birthday, just like reading all the
names of everyone in town to find, you know,
like when's Temple's birthday, which is in October,
I think, because I looked it up on the calendar
when I was a kid, right? Look at that. Look at
the recall. Oh my god, it's hilarious. I remember
looking it up when you were a cheerleader and
I was in junior high, like, oh, I got to know
one. I was probably, you've always been good
at that and you've carried through with that.
I don't know. I think, yeah, that sounds a little
stockish now that I've told temple that, but
whatever, you know, here we are honored. I had
no idea. No, that's true. Or you'd like have
a crush on somebody and be like, when's when's
the, oh yeah. When's your birthday? And it, and
man, if I'm lucky, I'll see him at the locker
and go, happy birthday. And okay. Oh, that's
crazy. You'd never tell. You'd never tell that
you looked it up and you knew that's crazy. Crazy
talk, Temple. You never did that. But, I mean,
I can let the secrets out now. Is it still happening?
That's what I want to know. Is the calendar up?
I don't know. Isn't that terrible? I don't know,
but I'm absolutely texting my mom the second
we're done and asking her. Gotta find out. Yeah,
gotta do. If it is, we gotta talk to these wonderful
people doing the calendar still. Yeah, we need
to know. We need to know. We can give people
some birthday shout -outs. I'm gonna find one
of those. It would be a really cool thing if
they were still doing it. Seriously. Is my birthday
still on that calendar? Somewhere it is. Buy
it. Do they always take them off? If somebody,
yeah, I think you pay for, I don't know. That's
a good question of how long the rotation stays.
I think you pay, and then the people that were
around the picture of the Junior Miss, you know,
there was, wasn't there, maybe there wasn't -
Sponsors. Yeah, I think there were like - There
was the sponsors. Like Floyd's would be on there
and and Bennett's and like all the businesses
would buy like a little box I don't also use
it in my hands. I don't know that that makes
any Like Huh pretty obsessed with this counter
or did Facebook just make that not a thing because
everybody I don't know. No, you're gonna have
to do some research into this The listeners are
gonna want to know so we're gonna get back and
yeah when listeners want to know you're right.
Yes You know, I don't want to let, I don't want
to let the public down. I'm going to find out.
Pretty sure you've got some serious listeners
out there. So, um, yeah, they're going to want
to know. They are all of our mothers. Tiffle,
do you ever get - Mom, text me or tell me if
you have that calendar. Tiffle, do you ever get
nostalgic about what was in our parking lot?
We discussed this, Shove and I were discussing
this the other day, uh, when we were in high
school. You know, the different kind of cars.
Oh, oh, oh, oh my God. You had the coolest car.
I had five Ford Falcon, which was my dad's. And
he, they painted it John Deere yellow, which
you would think would be really bright yellow,
but it was that pale yellow. I don't know why
he called it John Deere yellow. Cause it wasn't
bright. He chose the minor color, not the John
Deere green. Yeah, not John Deere green. There's
a lot about him. He, he went, he went for the
complimentary color. He driving in with the green.
He went for the more feminine color, I think
is what he was. Yeah, maybe that's what he was
doing. My dad got that car from his grandpa.
Uh, so it would be Paul Anderson senior and for
doing some work. Dad did some accounting work
for him, I think is how the story goes. So he
gave him a car. So there might've been more to
it. I don't know. My sister drove it, my brother
drove it, my dad fixed it back up, then I drove
it. It was a great car. It could go anywhere.
If it made clearance, it can go. It was a great
car. You didn't thrash it or anything, but you
didn't feel bad if you were driving back roads
on the weekends with your friend. You didn't
feel bad about that. Uh, cause it was, it was,
you know, it was well love. Yeah. First time
I got pulled over, I was in the Falcon. Oh, was
it in Potlatch? You got pulled over? The baseball
team drove by and laughed at me. Of course. Of
course. You could never get pulled over without
somebody. This is, this was, you were, you kind
of mentioned the downside of the small town and
everybody knowing you. It was that. I, I spent
a lot of time being pulled over and having people
drive by and of course going. Before I got home.
They have a lot of time being pulled over. I
only got pulled over once. Just that one time.
I liked to drive fast. Oh, I wasn't speaking.
My tags were my tags, my dad's tags. And I got
home and I was hot. And he was like, well, what's
up with you? And I was like, I got pulled over.
And he's like, what were you doing? And I'm like,
it wasn't me. It was you. And you didn't get
the tags renewed on the car. He was like, it
was a very humbling experience because seriously,
I had just gotten my license and the dad was
like, you can take the Falcon. So it probably
hadn't been driven maybe. So that's why the,
Oh, and yeah. Wasn't thinking about it. Wasn't
thinking about it. And I'm driving home thinking
I'm just the hottest. Cause I'm by myself driving
and I got pulled over. So that tells you. The
internet may have had competition back in the
eighties on speed, getting information to people
because I literally had been pulled over and
within five minutes, probably not even that.
Here comes a whole pickup load of the baseball
team. Laughing. You know, it's a, you're right.
I wasn't laughing. I hope I wasn't in that. You
were with them. Baseball player. Cameron, don't
you remember? Well, probably was. Yep. I think
it's funny because you just say that, like, the
internet. And we think news travels fast now,
like, because we have cell phones. But news traveled
so fast without cell phones, without, you know,
having to get to a landline and make, you know,
call somebody on their party line or what. I
don't know how it worked, but boy, it happened
fast. Like, people must have hightailed it to
those... pay phones that were crossed from the
bank and downtown potlatch and called home whenever
they saw something. I don't know. I don't know.
I get the gas station, the gas station gets the
call. Remember the little gas station that used
to be by Floyd's get the call. And then somebody
from that drives uptown and spreads it there.
And then it goes from the wagon wheel back home.
That's how to think of it. I think there was
like a town crier that just like drove around
and saw all this stuff. And then like, you know,
that was their role. I don't know who it was,
but. It was like all this, too. You know how
like someone like, like somebody wants a potluck
or somebody passes away or something. You have
this list of people. Oh, entry. And guess who?
OK, now you call, you know, surely. And maybe
this was the benefit of the party line is you
could call one person, but five people could
hear it. You know, the efficiency that that gave
in the gossip. Does anybody, I bet there's a
generation that doesn't know what a party lane
is, or there's a very different definition for
it. Very different. Yeah. My daughters with Snapchat.
Yeah. They're like party lane. What? Yeah. I'll
just snap them. They left me unread. I'm like
unread. What is that? It's like the, that's the
biggest sin. If you leave somebody unread, it's
a diss. Yeah. Yeah. Being unfriended is too.
I got told it that I told it. I got told that
told it nice by my younger niece. She was like,
you got unfriended. I was like, yeah. They're
making a statement for some reason. Yeah, it
is a statement. That only happened once though.
Another high bar, you know, pulled over once
unfriended once that's actually really exceptional,
you know? Yeah. I don't think that's true, but
okay. Yeah. Did that part out? Do you, do you
remember, do you remember the feeling, you know,
one, one thing about the small town too, is you
knew different roles, uh, you depend how old
you were and what your status was and so on.
And I was, I bring this up because my daughter
Ava is getting ready to start her senior year.
And I remember that transition that summer before
we were seniors, just feeling, she'll be, you
might've felt this too, like. Hey, we're the
big deals on campus now. Like this is, this is
ours. And, and it wasn't exactly what I thought
it would be where I thought, you know, we'd be
just boastful and walking around strutting our
stuff. I actually also felt an obligation to
the younger ones that were coming. And I think
that was in part because Ty, so Shelby's brother,
Shelby's brother, Ty, because he, he was coming
up in this class and we had this football tradition.
It was an awful tradition of dragging the freshmen
through the mud, you know? I don't remember if
you were, Oh yeah. I got drug through the mud.
Rich got drug, Jerry, Jeff. We would have all
gotten drug through the mud and they thought
it was cool. And it was the puddles, uh, that
would form at, uh, uh, like the west side of
the field. And it would gravel in those puddles.
It wasn't like a fun thing. There was some kind
of, you know, stupid ritual that, you know, we
thought we're going to do. And then I remember,
uh, when we became seniors, also Mike Scoville
had a younger brother. You know, and, uh, and
Damon, Damon Carpenter, you know, he had younger
brothers. And so we're like, you know what? That
stops now. We're not going to do that anymore.
Oh, wow. Oh, we stopped it. I hope it didn't
start again. I don't know if it did, but I remember
feeling that was, that was cool. Like, okay,
we can change the culture a little bit here.
Interesting. I had no idea. Did you know, Shelby,
that I had no idea. No, I was today years old
before I knew that I was, you didn't know that
thing. Well, maybe it was. the guy thing, you
know, cause when you play football, you go through
certain things, right? Well, maybe being, you
know, I was young enough that if you stopped
it before it got to us, maybe that's why I didn't
know. Hopefully it held. It held. Again, I'm
on a roll. Another thing, and I think you had
a lot to do this because you were in government.
You helped to make it possible for us to wear
shorts. Remember? Yeah. Shelby, you would have
benefited from this tremendously. Remember they
wouldn't let us wear shorts at all. They wouldn't
let us wear shorts. And I remember they, however
we did it, I don't remember. We petition, I think
you or Parlo would remember, but I remember,
yeah, I'm with you and I'll go talk to them and
I'll sign a paper and I'll wear the shorts. I
think you guys dared me to like, yeah, to push
the envelope and wear shorts. And I'm like, I'm
in, let's go. I'm down. But like it had to be
longer than your fingertips, right? Was that
the rule? Yeah, that's what they were worried
about. I do remember that but but I Never got
talked to about wearing a miniskirt That was
my part. That was part of my point. Yeah, I just
thought that was always so funny And it's not
like I wore they didn't I mean, I don't think
anybody really maybe they did push it I don't
know but my miniskirts were longer than my shorts
at that time. I mean, let's face it shorts were
You could have Bermuda shorts, but you could
have short shorts back then too. I mean, you
know, but yeah, I remember that. And I remember
wearing shorts to school for the first time.
That was a big deal. We did that. It was a big
deal. Nobody was allowed to do that. Right. I
thought about that. I remember that because I
was in, I was in seventh grade and I think we
had the same rules. I think, so I think we got
to wear shorts too. Yeah. we're givers. See,
we felt that responsibility. Thank you for blazing
that trail and making it so that we could wear
shorts all winter in the freezing cold if we
wanted to. Because that's what I remember wearing
shorts that most is in the winter. When it was
hot, I feel like we all wore our new... You'd
go back to school in August and it'd be hot,
but you would have just gotten all your new school
clothes, jeans and sweaters, so you wanted to
wear them. Right. Yeah, it didn't make any sense.
So you'd rotate them that week. You know, you
had to make sure you got each one in. Show off
all your new clothes and your new sheer. Yeah.
I pray nobody had the same thing that you did.
Yeah. Remember the white boots, the little go
-go? Yeah. Remember those? And I remember we
all sat down as a committee practically, the
girls, it was like, okay, I'm going to pay the
shoes and I'm buying the ones, the tassels and
the silver things. Don't you buy it. And nobody
ended up with the same. white boots because we
didn't want to be wearing the same one. I love
the coordination that went into this. And then
when somebody's got trashed, well, anyway, when
they get trashed, you'd be like, okay, I'm going
to go buy new white boots. So what does everybody
got so I don't buy the same white boots? And
it wasn't because you didn't like them, it was
because you wanted to be an individual. You didn't
want to wear the same thing. But yeah, I remember
wearing those clothes and I'd just be sweating
by the end of the day. And you're just like,
but I got my new sweater. And you just like,
yeah, you'd put your shorts on. So yeah, it made
no sense. It made no sense, but I like, I like
that we all did it. That's fantastic. School
shopping was the best. That was the best. Work
hard all summer. Going to the Bosco mall. That's
right. Well, that's part of the thing was we
only had a limited shopping. That was about it.
Yeah. Unless we wanted to go all the way down
to Lewiston. How far? Far. Yeah, we did go school
shopping in Lewiston. Sometimes we'd go to Spokane.
Yeah. Yeah, I'd go to Spokane. Yeah. That was
a big deal. We even went to Norfolk sometimes.
Fancy. What was that about? But we did. Wait,
the shoe department was in the basement. Oh,
maybe Clovis is in the Nordstroms anyway. Yeah,
those are good times. We had the best hair and
the best fashions. I mean, that is a relative,
I don't know, in the eye of the beholder, maybe.
But so when you when you look back on it, other
than don't wear your new sweaters the first week
of school when it's still hot, is there any like
advice or anything that you that like you'd give
your teenage self? My teenage self, um, I think
I would probably remind myself how important
it is to learn the lessons. Like, if you're in
a class, you need to absorb what that teacher's
telling you, because it will come in handy later.
Maybe not specifically that day, but it will
the overall information they're trying to instill
in you will come up again, whether it's if you
go to college, whether it's in a different class
at a different level, you know, or in life, you
might might want to pay attention and not just
spit it back out when there was a test time,
you know, and take every and again, like what
we were saying, take every class you can take.
Like I wish I would have taken chemistry. Why
didn't you take chemistry? I can't believe my,
I can't believe dad was like not on that a little
bit, dad, but, um. Did you take physics though?
No, I did not take chemistry, physics or accounting.
And those were three classes that I wish I would
have taken in high school. Wait, we had accounting?
Yeah, I don't, we didn't, I don't think we had
accounting. Oh, we didn't. Oh, yeah. I was going
to say, cause we had, we had life training or
like what life life school. Life school? Seventh
period with Mrs. Nurk? What was that? Oh, life
and consumer sciences. I mean, that was it. Home
ec, basically. Home ec. We were trying to learn
how to balance checkbooks. We'd learn how to
bake a pie. But I think it was family. It was
family and consumer sciences. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
I don't think it was that yet. Yeah, it was something.
Anyway. This is Nurk's class. We all took Mrs.
Nurk's class. That's what we know. That was a
blast. Love that. and that should be required.
I don't know, maybe it is now, but it should
be required because you need those life skills
too. I don't know, high school was one of those
times where you could learn how to, those life
skills, maybe pay a little closer attention to
those, how to deal with different personalities,
how to deal with Different people in like say
your teacher is sort of kind of like your boss,
you know That kind of that kind of advice. I
wish I would have like done some of that But
maybe I wouldn't I mean, how do you know until
you get to my age and then you look back? But
yeah, I pro and and have as much fun as you can
because those four years are not like any years
of the rest of your life I don't know if you
guys, well, I know Cameron probably did, but
I don't know, Shelby, it's not like you're that
much younger than us, but things change, right?
But, you know, long about maybe Thursday afternoon
or Friday sometime, there would be the, you know,
so where are we going to go and what's the plan,
you know? What time and where are we going to
be up? And that was, where are we going after
the football game? Where are we all going to
be? The word would start to spread around. Yes.
Yes. And how did you not know that the adults
didn't hear that? I'm sure they did. The teachers.
Or maybe they did. I don't know. Well, some did
and some didn't. Like, uh, I remember getting
pulled over many, many times, uh, many times
and a lot of times it was not a ticket. Sometimes
it was Jim, uh, policeman Jim. And I remember
with the, with the, with the jeans, you know,
we got to know each other very well. Uh, he would
just pull me over and he'd look in the back for
beer, first of all, right away. And if there's
beer, he'd just take it. Yeah. You know, he just
take it. He's the smartest cop because he kept
us out of trouble. He did. Yeah. Yeah. He's probably
looking out. We're kind of getting in trouble.
So he usually took care of it before it got into
trouble, but the guy never had to buy liquor.
I mean, he must've had the best stash. Yeah.
I remember someone in his family that's in our
class told us that. And then he would, and then
Jim would be like, okay, so Cam, where are you
going tonight? What's going on? And I remember
when I started taking some of the boys to Moscow,
he'd be like, why are you guys going that way?
I thought everybody's going the other way, you
know, on the highway. Like, why are you going
this way? What are you doing? What are you going
that way for? And I'm like, to get away from
you, sir. Yeah, it's hilarious. I had no idea
that you were on a chit chatty basis with Jim
the cop. I was on chit chatty basis. He saw the
rabbit coming, man. He least followed me for
a while. See what I was doing. Yeah. Yeah. The
rabbit, the diesel. Yeah. Diesel started up in
blue smoke. It went, uh, yeah, we had a thunder
and I was an 84 Thunderbird turbo coupe. Thunderbird.
Yeah. And then, uh, and then in 88, I think it
was better when, uh, maybe when I was a senior,
right before. Yeah. Yeah. But I'm not sure exactly
the year, but I think maybe it's not funny. And,
and speaking of like back to the parking lot
thing, I love how you guys would just get all
excited about hunting season. Oh yeah. You'd
go out hunting before school and come screeching
in, you know, right at last bell and then get
out again after. And there were guns. Gut. Think
about that. And also sometimes somebody would
shoot something in the morning and then it would
just be in their pickup when they came to the
pool. Oh yeah. I remember. And everybody would
look at it like. Being mounted to the front of
a truck. Yeah. Like an LP. Yeah. I forgot. Blood
coming down. You know, rifle in the back, unlocked.
Yeah. That's how, you know, I mean, that was
really changed, but I mean, that was, that was
just the way it was. You know, so I guess that's
nostalgia for us. It was very normal and there
was no, no, let's do it. You know, that was very
different time. Yep. Yeah. And we have witnessed
it. I feel old thinking about it that way. It
was a simpler time. We didn't have to ride horses
though to school. This is true. Wow. Yeah. Yeah.
We had to walk up here both ways in the snow
to get to school. Okay. Yeah. No. I think that
is a really good testament that everybody was
on the up and up on that. That's why they had
a rifle in their pickup or their car because
they were hunting. It was just, what else? It
was a hunting community as part of the culture.
Yeah. Good times. I know it did. Before we wrap
up, is there any memory, anything that you want
to share that, you know, there's never enough
time to share all of it, but anything that you.
kind of remember any story you want to want to
leave everybody with uh i didn't really prepare
anything i i also i have i remember you guys
went to the girls league formal together when
you were seniors and i was in seventh grade and
they would have seventh and eighth graders serve
i don't know what exactly what that meant um
i can't remember that at the um at that dance
and i got to be there and you guys tried to make
me dance with you but i would not. I don't think
I did dance. I don't remember if I did or not,
but I remember you guys like dancing in front
of the little table we were at and like pulling
me out there. And I remember Temple had on a
white dress, this like super cute white dress.
I have no memory of what you were wearing, Cam.
That was much less important. I heard this white
dress. Do you know what dress I'm talking about?
Yeah, I remember what Cameron had on. We had
I was a page in the legislature for a week and
I had to leave right after New Year's. And I
said, Cameron, I'm not going to mess around.
I'm asking you to the formal because I know that
you're a hot commodity and all these women are
going to want to girls are going to want to ask
you to formal. So you go to the formal with me
because we've gone to the formal. The year before
had. I'm like, hit my date for the formal, right?
And you were like, yes. And then I find out while
I'm in Boise, like all these girls were pissed
because they wanted to go with Cameron and Temple
already asked him. I'm like, yeah, I got to lock
it down. Temple's locked it down. That's right.
I locked that Cameron down. And yeah, we had,
we made dinner. Didn't we double date with Carla
and Dan? Yes. And we made dinner at my house.
My mom and dad were. out and so we made dinner
and got all dressed up. All dressed up, like
we're young adults or something. That was so
fun. Fun. That's a great memory you brought up.
Great job, Shelby, bringing that one. And, and
I do remember you being there, Shelbin, serving
us and we're trying to get you engaged and you
were really shy. Yeah, it was a really, it was
kind of an overwhelming experience, I think,
being at this like high school dance with all
those like, you know. when you're in seventh
grade, like juniors and seniors seem so grown
up and, you know, you kind of idolize them in
a lot of ways. And I just remember that being
like, you know, way too embarrassed to like,
you got to find a photo of that temple. I probably
have one somewhere. I bet I do. I bet you gave
me a scrapbook. That's it. I'll find it and like
put somehow put it on this video if we can figure
out. Ooh, that's a great technology. Yeah, the
technology and get one of the found find it,
send it to me. That would be a fantastic way
to. Yeah, that was fun, Cameron. Thanks for being
my date. Even though I know there was a lot of
other women lined up that that would have. Hey,
look at what that did for him. That just made
it like. Shot his stock up. That's right, you
know? Yeah, you really did him the favor, I think.
H .S. Go Loggers. That's right. Go Loggers. Loyal
and true. Loyal and true. Absolutely.