POST FALLS - It was picture perfect for Joni McCoury.

She has always wondered who was behind the scenic lake painting on a Runge's Furniture cardboard box that she grew up with and her late father Howard Scott bought for $3.50 about 45 years ago at the old Coeur d'Alene Athletic Roundtable social club downtown.

Within a few hours of taking her plea to Main Street, Kerri Thoreson's weekly column in The Press, the 56-year-old Post Falls woman had her answer, sparking an emotional gathering with Kathy Hughes, step-daughter of the late hobbyist painter Elmer Johnson.

"I felt very completed," McCoury said. "Now I know where the picture came from. It will always be my dad's picture, so there's a lot of emotions tied to it.

"To learn that Elmer lived in Coeur d'Alene and that Kathy lives in Rathdrum is unbelievable. They could've been from anywhere."

The wall painting, which is about 2.5 feet high by 3 feet wide, is of a lake with snow-capped mountains in the background. It's unclear if it is of a specific lake or area. It resembles scenes on Lake Coeur d'Alene, including near Harrison or Tubbs Hill, but Johnson didn't leave his home to paint, Hughes said.

The name "Elmer Johnston," which appears to be in a woman's handwriting, is on the back of the painting, but McCoury was never certain that he was the painter until she met Hughes recently. Turns out, the correct spelling if the painter's name is Johnson.

"Dad did scenes, prairies, farms, mountains, lakes - just whatever came to his mind," Hughes said, adding that Johnson painted mostly from his basement, garage or back yard. "The second that I read the article, I got chill bumps, woke up my husband and started crying. I knew that it was my dad's painting. He always shopped at Runge's."

Hughes said she remembers Johnson painting the scene when she was little.

Mary Tanner, Johnson's only living daughter, said she has a lot of memories of her father painting. He was a fan of Joe Breckenridge, a regional artist known for whipping out paintings in bars on slabs of wood.

Tanner said her dad would have been surprised knowing his work has touched people's lives as they have and even a reception featuring his work will be held on Thursday from 4-7 p.m. at Art Conscious Framing in Post Falls. She said he simply did it as a pastime.

There are a lot of parallels between the two families who have been connected with the painting.

The parents on both sides have passed away. Johnson and Scott were both blue-collar workers - Johnson a boiler man for the local Ohio Match and Diamond International lumber companies and Scott a crane driver for Kaiser Aluminum in Spokane before he owned a tavern and restaurant.

Both men had a heart for helping others and enjoyed being a part of civic clubs.

The guys knew of each other, but not to the point of being friends.

"Evidently they were just acquaintances who hung out at the same places in the '60s," Hughes said.

The Coeur d'Alene Athletic Roundtable burned down with the Desert Motel and original Coeur d'Alene Chamber of Commerce building in 1971. It was at the Roundtable, known for its all-you-can-eat spaghetti nights, where Johnson sold some of his paintings.

"If he couldn't afford poster board, he'd use cardboard or whatever he could find to paint on," Hughes said, adding that another painting is on a Western Auto stereo box. "He'd either give them away or sell them. He just liked the fact that people enjoyed his work."

Count McCoury as one of the admirers of his work.

At one point, Scott was going to throw the painting away, but McCoury nabbed it for sentimental reasons.

She had it cleaned and gave it back to her dad on Father's Day in 1997.

"When I gave it back to him, he had tears in his eyes," McCoury said. "You could see him relive the moments with my mom. It was pretty powerful."

That, McCoury, said is why it was important for her to learn about the face behind the painting.

"I would have never guessed that it was painted by a guy in Coeur d'Alene," McCoury said. "It reminds me of Coeur d'Alene, and it reminds me of my dad."