COEUR d'ALENE - Maynard Lyson and Audrey Partridge sat down for drinks at the Coeur d'Alene Eagles on Friday afternoon, ordering ice tea and a cocktail.

Hot sunshine blazed over Sherman Avenue, but Aerie 486 was dark and cool.

"You just get so many friends," said Lyson, 81, a 20-year Eagles member. "And it's a fraternal organization. I think that the organization is a plus. It's really a plus for the people."

Lyson met Partridge at the Eagles, where she's a longtime member of the all-female Auxiliary. The couple live in Coeur d'Alene and have been together 14 years.

"You can get a younger man (at) my age, you're pretty good," the 91-year-old Partridge said with a grin.

At a table nearby, a group of buddies downed beers and cracked jokes. Several members enjoyed the fresh air in the outdoor seating area.

The drink special was dirt cheap: two-bit beers, 25 cents per glass, in honor of the 108th birthday of the worldwide Fraternal Order of the Eagles.

Founded in Seattle by six theater owners, the Eagles is an international nonprofit organization. The club promotes "peace, prosperity, gladness and hope," according to its mission statement.

To celebrate the birthday in style, quirky specials continued all week.

Jim Barber of Coeur d'Alene was sipping a pint at the long wooden bar. Now 78, Barber joined the Aerie in the 1960s, but quit the club for a number of years.

"The Eagles was an old guys' lodge," he said. "And I was too young."

He got a little older and rejoined the club about two decades ago. Now, Barber's a regular at the place.

In years gone by, Barber recalled, Coeur d'Alene was a blue-collar mill town, and the boys would stop by the lodge for a drink or two after work. The Eagles arrived sometime in the World War II-era, he said, and moved to its current building about 1948 (no one was sure of the exact dates).

The lodge was recently renovated, but Barber misses the old setup.

"I was very fond of the old horseshoe bar," he said. "It was a very nice bar."

About 1,300 Eagles members socialize at the aerie, according to bar manager Bill Miller. The Auxiliary boasts another 600 members.

"It's a lot of local people," Miller said. "I know so many people, and they're all so good."

The international Order of the Eagles donates to charities like the Max Baer Heart Fund, the Robert W. Hansen Diabetes Fund and the Art Ehrmann Cancer Fund, Miller added. All local Eagles clubs participate in the fundraising.

In Coeur d'Alene, Eagles donate their facility to local groups who need space for fundraisers or other functions.

Above the main lodge, the upstairs meeting room - with its large dance floor, stage and spacious seating area - accomodates more than 280 people.

"We host any kind of fundraiser, almost," Miller said.

Prospective members are reviewed by the Aerie Group, a selection committee of sorts. If an applicant has a felony on his record, he can't join the Eagles.

The club maintains a certain level of civility and gentlemanly behavior, members explained. Coeur d'Alene police, Miller said, almost never visit the Eagles.

"Little more discipline in here than you get in a lot of bars," Barber said.

Charlie Cederquist poured a few 25-cent pints behind the wooden bar. The 29-year-old joined the Eagles Auxiliary about five years ago.

"I love it. It's like family," she said. "All the good 'ole boys."

On a given day, Cederquist will serve old-timers, middle-agers and younger patrons, both male and female. The bar is like a small community - everybody knows their neighbor.

"It's quite a variety here," Cederquist said.