Can't trust a car salesman, huh? No greater lie has ever been uttered in the Coeur d'Alene area.

Some of the community's most profound contributors, people who gladly share their good fortune through acts and gifts too many to count, happen to sell cars. For well over a combined century, C. Wayne Knudtsen and Tom Addis have led the local parade of generous good guys. Funny, too, because in this Chevy vs. Ford world we live in, Knudtsen and Addis have been brothers in arms whenever the challenges of their community arose.

With the passing last Friday night of Knudtsen, 87, Addis now carries the civic car dealer torch in four-wheel drive. Fortunately, he's not alone.

Wayne Knudtsen adroitly passed along the reins to the Chevrolet dealership to his daughter, Eve, a community sparkplug herself. Jim Addis is picking up where pop left off, though the senior Addis is still a presence at the dealership on U.S. 95.

"Youngsters" who have stepped back from their wheeling and dealing days include Joe Arrotta and Doug Parker. In both cases, they, too, have handed the keys to their sons, who clearly were taught well by their dads. All of these people feel a deep sense of commitment to the community, and they pay far more than lip service to the concept of giving back.

Still, the death of Wayne Knudtsen marks the end of an era. Doug Parker, the 72-year-old who got his start as a dealership owner in 1983 thanks to Wayne - "He launched me," Parker said - painted this picture of both his friend and of the times we live in:

"He was the last of the old-time car guys. We always call car dealerships 'stores. The car store. The Chevy store. I'm going to the Ford store; I'm going to the Subaru store.' But not Wayne. Wayne always said, 'I gotta go down to the garage.' The garage was the way they used to think about it, and now, you know, the garage portion of our business - it's still there, but we just don't think about 'em as garages.'"

Wayne Knudtsen pumped gas at his family's garage 75 years ago. In fact, he and his dad and uncle provided unprecedented sales and service without "help" from the Internet or protection via book-length contracts. There was something straightforward and sparkling and clean about those dirt lot days, and society is no better for having moved past them.

Thankfully, the character of these men continues in their children. That's a good deal for all the people who drive this community forward.