SPIRIT LAKE — Eunice Puglia was raised to be strong and independent.

One of 13 kids growing up in Pennsylvania, she landed her first job at 8 years old and worked for more than six decades.

“I was brought up that you don’t ask for help,” she said. “You don’t tell people your problems.”

Not even when a triple-digit heat wave settled in North Idaho and the temperature rose to more nearly 100 degrees in her Spirit Lake home of three years.

The 85-year-old toughed it out.

She kept her house dark, kept fans going, relaxed in her recliner, dabbed cold water on her wrists and took cool showers. She prayed for strength.

It worked at first, but as the record-hot days stretched on outside, it got hotter inside.

“I couldn’t do any work,” Puglia said “Everything happened so quickly. I was just in a daze. It was overwhelming.”

Still, no way was she letting others know.

Good thing for neighbors.

Ranee LaValley, who lives two doors down, and her daughter went to visit “Miss Eunice." They wanted to let her know she was overwatering her lawn and washing the grass seed away, and check on her, too.

“When she opened the door, it was like an oven hit us and sweat was just pouring off her,” LaValley said on the Fourth of July, sitting in her garage with Puglia. “We had no idea. We just assumed she had central air conditioning.”

Puglia’s was one of the first homes built in the subdivision. Most had AC. Hers, though, did not. It didn’t seem to be an issue until the thermometer kept topping the century mark.

“Miss Eunice, what happened to your AC?” LaValley asked.

“I don’t have AC,” Puglia answered.

LaValley couldn’t believe it.

“Our hearts broke,” she said.

When she asked Puglia why she didn’t tell anyone, ask for help, Puglia said she was a private person who kept her problems her own.

LaValley wasn’t buying it.

“I told my daughter, ‘No, that’s not going to happen. We got to get her an AC.”

LaValley had just paid for truck repairs, so costly that she had to cancel her trip back home to Texas later this year because she used her savings to get the truck back on the road.

“If I had the money I would have went and got it,” she said.

So LaValley did the next best thing. She put a notice out on social media that her “88-year-old” neighbor needed an AC unit. 


“I’m sorry for making you older than what you were,” LaValley said to Puglia as both women laughed.

It worked.

A man named Keith called LaValley and asked for an address and phone number.

Why, asked LaValley.

“I’m fixing to go buy your neighbor an AC but need to know where to bring it,” he said.

Soon, he and LaValley paid Puglia a visit and told her what they wanted to do for her.

She was stunned.

“I cried for two to three days, I was so overwhelmed,” Puglia said. “I could hear my dad’s voice saying, ‘Don’t spread your trouble around.‘ To me, it wasn’t a trouble. I would have made it through.”

Indeed, she did — with a little help from her friends.

Another man donated an AC unit for her bedroom. On July 4, her home was cool and comfortable and in the low 70s.

She said no one had ever done anything like that for her. She couldn't believe they would.

“To me, it’s a miracle,” she said. “I didn’t tell anybody anything."

Both woman gave the credit to the Lord.

“God deserves praise,” LaValley said. “It was God that touched the men’s hearts to do it. I’m just happy she’s so cool.”

Puglia lived in California 40 years and worked in fashion before moving to Coeur d’Alene about 20 years ago. She bought her Spirit Lake home in 2017.

“I left California before all the nonsense really got out of hand,” she said, smiling.

Today, she’s grateful and thankful for having caring and kind neighbors. LaValley also invited her to their Fourth of July barbecue.

Puglia gladly accepted.

She said many have been blessed by her rapidly spreading story.

“It’s given them hope,” Puglia said.

LaValley said she also heard comments from people who said what happened renewed their faith.

“It’s wonderful that people care,” she said. “People in the community do care. They do love.”