BUHL - A teacher who mysteriously disappeared 29 years ago in North Idaho hasn't been forgotten.

The case involving Deborah Swanson, who went missing in 1986, has never left the mind of Lynn Popplewell, an instructor at Buhl Middle School who retired at the end of this school year.

"You need to remember the people who have made great impact on your life, who are now gone," she explained. As her teaching career came to a close, she found a way to honor her long-lost friend in a way that involved some of her art students.

Swanson had everything going for her, Popplewell said. She had a bubbly personality. She was outdoorsy and social.

"She was someone you were naturally drawn to, the type of person you look for in a friend," Popplewell said.

Swanson, 31, was a special education teacher in Coeur d'Alene and previously taught at Lincoln Elementary in Twin Falls. That's where Popplewell and Swanson first met. They met again one summer when she worked on her master's degree at the University of Idaho and they took an art class together.

What happened to Swanson after she left for a hike at a popular outdoors spot in North Idaho in March of 1986 remains a mystery. Police suspect foul play but no arrests were made in the case. Searchers combed the area but found no trace of Swanson. Her car was found in a parking lot, locked with personal items in it.

She was due at a friend's house the next day for Easter dinner. The food she planned to bring was found, still wrapped, in her refrigerator. Law enforcement used infrared, dogs, helicopters and divers to search the 120-acre Tubbs Hill and the waters around it without luck.

Two other women disappeared in the region around that time - one in 1986 and a woman disappeared from Spokane, Wash., in 1987.

Popplewell doubts Swanson could be alive after all these years.

"I just wish the family could have some resolution," she said.

As a tribute to Swanson, she revived an art project she first completed with her friend. For the project, advanced seventh-grade art students made "pillow people" of themselves.

"I thought about all the art projects I've done through the years and the ones that were the most fun. This project was one of them," she said. Coincidentally, one of the photos Popplewell has of Swanson is of her holding a pillow person.

The project started in May with Popplewell and Diana Culliman, another teacher who was acquainted with Swanson, telling students the details surrounding Swanson.

"I wanted to convey to my students that in a blink, life can change, and the idea that we can honor and remember those who are gone," she said. "I think the project was a great tribute to her (Swanson)."

Culliman retired from teaching three years ago. Swanson lived with Culliman's parents in Coeur d'Alene.

"The kids were very receptive to the project and had questions, like why they can't solve the case," Popplewell said. She said every few years, the Coeur d'Alene Police Department publicizes the case, seeking the one clue that will break the case.

It stings Popplewell that nothing has been found, and she said she aches for Swanson's relatives. She wants them to know she has honored Swanson.

The art project has been an emotional conclusion to Popplewell's teaching career.

"As I approached retirement and thought about my career and the people along the way, I realized that Deborah Swanson and that summer in art class always impacted my teaching. I was drawn more into teaching the arts," she said.

Now that the project is finished, "I feel I can go on with the next phase of my life," she said. "I feel we have finished our teaching careers together."

* Cases remain cold for nearly 30 years

Two women went missing from Kootenai County in 1986.

That year, Deborah Jean Swanson and Sally Ann Stone each disappeared within a two-month period.

A standing reward for these two unsolved missing persons cases has been in place since 2006.

"It is the hope of Crime Stoppers and the Coeur d'Alene Police Department to solve these two cases, and bring comfort to the victims' families," stated a press release issued in March by the two agencies.

* Deborah Jean Swanson was reported missing March 29, 1986, after she had parked her vehicle in the Third Street parking lot and went jogging on Tubbs Hill. She was last seen by a witness walking onto the hill at 4:40 p.m. Swanson 's vehicle was found in the parking lot the next day by police detectives. It was undisturbed and locked with her purse, wallet and identification in it. An extensive search of the recreational area revealed no evidence as to the reason for her disappearance.

Swanson was employed at the time of her disappearance as a teacher with the Coeur d'Alene School District. The case remains unsolved, and it is believed by police that she was a victim of foul play. She was 31 at the time of her disappearance, and she would be 60 today. Swanson is described as a white female, 5 feet 4 inches tall, 130 pounds, with blonde hair and blue eyes.

* Sally Anne Stone, also known as Sally Anne Ries, was reported missing by her family on May 28, 1986.

She was last seen on May 16 in Coeur d'Alene. Her vehicle was found at her residence undisturbed. She was off work due to an injury at the time from her job as an exotic dancer at the Kon Tiki Bar at Stateline.

Stone's disappearance remains unsolved and it is believed by police that she is a victim of foul play. She was 21 at the time of her disappearance, and she would be 50 today. She is described as 5-foot-2, 115-130 pounds, with brown hair and hazel eyes. She has a tattoo on her right shoulder of a parrot standing on a branch in front of a half-moon. There is a ribbon under it with the letters "Teko's" on it. Stone has a 5- to 6-inch scar on her abdomen that is possibly from a cesarean section.

Anyone with information on either of these cases is asked to call Crime Stoppers of the Inland Northwest at 1-800-222-TIPS. Callers are asked to use a code name or number. They do not have to give their own names to be eligible for a cash reward.