StoryCatcher Project

Recording the Past through Storytelling. By Jani Gonzalez

Before construction crews broke ground for the new Coeur d’Alene Library, Clifford Sijohn, who was cultural director of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe at the time, christened the future building as the “Lodge of the Storyteller.” That blessing sparked an idea for Ruth Pratt, Executive Director of the Library Foundation.

“We started building a theme around that from the décor to the murals,” she said. “When Portrait of a Town was done, we thought it was perfect for capturing people’s stories and the history of our town.”

Thus came about the StoryCatcher Project as a continuation of Barb Mueller’s Portrait of a Town mural in which she interviewed 210 people nominated by the community. Ms. Pratt approached her to continue interviewing citizens on various subjects for the library. The first subject to capture was of those who served in World War II and the Korean War.

“World War II is so historic, and we’re losing the people with those stories,” Ms. Pratt said. “It’s important for all of us to recognize how our culture came to be. We hope that the stories will be another way to experience the local activities going on at the time.”

WWII left a lasting impression on Mark Weadick who was a child then. After reading an article calling for volunteers, he signed up to help interview the veterans.

“Pearl Harbor was attacked when I was four years old,” he said. “I experienced the effects of war – the ration books my parents had to use. There was limited gasoline, and my dad rode a bike to his job in town.”

Mr. Weadick’s most memorable interview was that of Milt Stafford, a nonagenarian who served as an artillery man during the Italian Campaign.

“When I first telephoned Milt, he didn’t want to be interviewed because he had been behind the lines. He had been in the thick of the allied campaign to take Italy back from the German and Italian forces, starting with the invasion of Sicily.”

For Barb Mueller, program coordinator, interviewing a veteran who had kept a journal during his navy tour impressed her most. He was not supposed to have kept the journal, but the act helped preserve his memories of the war. The journal also had been included in a book along with a kamikaze pilot’s journal of the same events.

“The journals were published in tandem. These two men had similar backgrounds except one was destined to die,” she said. “His memory was so vivid because he had recorded those feelings in a detailed way.”

Volunteers are editing the veteran interviews. They should be available online and at the library’s Lodge of the Storyteller room before the end of the year. The most recent subject was interviewing at the Art on the Green in celebration of its 46th year. Upcoming subjects this fall include stories of the lake, holiday traditions and recollecting the mining and logging industries of Coeur d’Alene.

For more information about the StoryCatcher Project, contact Ruth Pratt at 208-769-2380 or libfdn@gmail.com.

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