As “Amazing Grace” set to debut April 1, 1995, locals wondered: “Will it get picked up?”

“Amazing Grace” was an NBC television series, filmed in Coeur d’Alene, starring Patty Duke as a new minister dealing with divorce, a suicide attempt and a pouty, agnostic daughter.

And the answer to the question about a second season was: no.

The series didn’t get picked up. But not for lack of effort by Patty Duke.

Five years earlier, Patty had left the Southern California rat race and moved to Coeur d’Alene with her husband, Mike Pearce, an Idaho native and former military drill sergeant.

Prior to the debut of “Amazing Grace,” she told the Associated Press: “I just had become disquieted from living in the big city. It had nothing to do with getting away from work. I was always a city girl, and I talked about moving to the country.

“Then one day I was sitting out in the (San Fernando) valley, and I said, ‘I can’t do this anymore! The noise, the this and that! Total strangers giving you the finger!’ I went in the house and said, “We gotta get out of here!’ Two weeks later, we moved.”

Although she was intrigued by Pastor Hannah Miller’s character in the proposed series, Duke initially turned down the NBC offer. She didn’t want to leave her Coeur d’Alene home long enough to film five episodes, according to the AP.

So, NBC executives brought the series to her.

Co-starring Dan Lauria (love interest), Joe Spano (detective) and Marguerite Moreau (teenage daughter), “Amazing Grace” was filmed with the old First United Methodist Church, Seventh and Wallace, as a backdrop.

Once filming started, Patty told AP, she was surprised that she had little contact with the locals: “I wasn’t sure whether I had become a minister or a cloistered nun.”

Her husband explained what was happening: “They’re being respectful.”

Historic S

Mary Bjorklund learned 35 years ago that she could fight City Hall and win, with a little help from her friends.

In 1990, Mary threatened to launch a recall against the City Council after she learned city officials were planning to gouge her western side yard to realign Eighth Street between Sherman and Lakeside avenues.

Mary’s property was extraordinary.

In 1935, Mary’s pioneer parents, Philip and Deborah McManamin, bought the three-story 1902-03 mansion from J.C. White, a leading figure in Lake Coeur d’Alene’s steamboat era.

Mary was supported by tax activist Ron Rankin and 2,200 petition signers.

“As Mary sees it,” Rankin told the council Aug. 21, 1990, “she is a lone voice against powerful business and self-serving real estate interests and an insensitive city administration with the power to condemn her property.”

Ultimately, the council voted unanimously to leave Mary’s parcel alone and directed staff to consider other realignment options.

Mary remained in the mansion until her death at age 82 in 1992.

Today, townhouses cover the site of Mary’s old property. But the mansion soon will begin a second life — as the home of the Museum of North Idaho. The historic house was donated to MONI. On Nov. 16, 2019, it was moved to the base of Tubbs Hill and overhauled.

Gimmick backfires

On paper, it sounded like a good idea: Band and chorus members from Coeur d’Alene High would dress like 1920s gangsters and sell tickets to a concert featuring music from that era.

And they did, brandishing fake guns, including a Johnny Eagle Magumba Elephant Toy Gun.

All good fun until a citizen spotted three concert promoters emerging from a downtown bank and thought the guns were real. And that launched four carloads of cops in search of the Al Capone wannabes March 7, 1975.

With guns drawn, the good guys caught up with the not-so-bad guys in front of Harding School on 15th Street. No one was hurt, according to The Press. But one cop called the promotion “an awful dumb stunt.”

Did you know

As spring 1985 arrived, some downtown businesses were embroiled in a hot dog war with sidewalk vendor Gary Earle. They complained to the City Council that Gary’s portable dogs had taken a bite out of their sandwich and cold drink business. As usual, Tom Robb of the Iron Horse Restaurant was a voice of reason. Said Tom: “If they have their city permits and are checked by the health department, I don’t care if there are 70 of them.”

Huckleberries

• Poet’s Corner: We drink now to Patrick,/may God hold him near,/for he is the saint/who gave us green beer — The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“St. Patrick’s Day Toast”).

• Irish Luck: As Rory Lane Duby celebrated her seventh birthday on St. Patrick’s Day 1955, she considered the Irish lucky, indeed. On that day, she received swell news: The family’s pet dog was expected to recover from poisoning. “That’s the only birthday present I want,” she told The Press. Rory wasn't the only child of Mr. and Mrs. R.O. Duby of Coeur d'Alene who had a special birthday. Sister Sherry turned 8 on Valentine's Day.

• Music Man: Max Krakenberg is the answer to the trivia question: Who organized Coeur d’Alene’s first city band? A caption for a photo in the Coeur d’Alene Press on March 16, 1960, didn’t say when Max started the band. But it did say that he served as band manager for “many years” and owned the town’s first cigar factory.

• Drill, Baby: The first woman licensed as a well driller in Idaho was Shirley Martin of M&T Drilling. On March 15, 1975, she and her husband, Frank, had just finished a job in Coeur d’Alene. She handled the drilling rig controls, cutting torch and welding machine. And she loved people’s reaction when they saw her working in the dirt and mud. The Martins considered home to be wherever they were working.

• Fiddlin’ Around: Google “faithfulness,” and you will find a picture of Louie Anderson of Coeur d'Alene. In March 1995, Louie, 84, had fiddled for more than 40 years at Mica Flats Grange dances. He told The Press: “All in all, there have been pleasant memories of dances. There were some days I’ve been dead tired and wished I didn’t have to go, but I did.”

Parting shot

Harry Reasoner was an easterner who knew the difference between Iowa and Idaho. The veteran CBS “60 Minutes” founder was born in a small Iowa town, and he spent time as a youth in northwestern Montana’s Flathead Valley. So, when he and a six-member crew invaded the Silver Valley in March 1980 to report on a silver boom, he knew what to expect. “This is one of the prettiest parts of the U.S. There is so much water here; the mountains are more beautiful than they are in other parts of the country.” Also, he knew that Westerners were friendly. “Out here,” he told a Press reporter, “if you’re standing around looking lost, someone will walk up to you and ask, ‘Can I help you find something?’ In New York, someone would ask, ‘Whatsamatter, you lost?’”

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D.F. (Dave) Oliveria can be contacted at dfo@cdapress.com.

    Robert Singletary’s Kootenai Chronicles history page in the Coeur d’Alene Press shows stately homes owned by J.C. White, left, and Frederick Blackwell in 1995.
  

    Coeur d’Alene High students, dressed as 1920s mobsters, sell a concert ticket to Jim Pearce of Post Falls, second from left in 1975. The students are, from left, Dave Guerrin, Don Sauer and Sandee Stamper.
  

    Gary Earle and his hot dog stand stir controversy in 1985.
  

    Rory Lane Duby, right, turned 7 on St. Patrick’s Day in 1955. Meanwhile, her sister, Sherry, left, celebrated her 8th birthday on Valentine’s Day. And youngest sister Lorelei would be 4 on June 30.
  

    In 1960, Max J. Krakenberg, 91, foreground, is shown with his son, Max N. Krakenberg, right, and friend Howard Hensley.
  

    Louie Anderson plays his fiddle in 1995.
  

    Shirley Martin drills wells in North Idaho in 1975.
  

    Harry Reasoner of CBS “60 Minutes,” right, asks broker Jerry O’Brien of Wallace’s Pennaluna & Co. about the silver market in 1980.