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Don
Poe was born in Pomeroy, Washington in 1935, his parents’ only
child. The family moved to Clarkston in 1940 so he attended all 12
years in the Clarkston school system and fondly remembers the 13th
Street neighborhood gang of kids he grew up with. Don’s mother,
Mary Rice, was a school teacher in Pomeroy and met her husband, Ernie
Poe there, who was in construction. Ernie and his brother bought a sand
pit in Clarkston in 1940 at 16th and Chestnut and operated that for
several years as well as doing small construction jobs. In 1953, Ernie
bought into a paving business with George Knapp. They paid $37,000 for
the company.
Joanne Kube was born in Grangeville, Idaho in 1935 to Harry and Violet
Kube, and grew up on a farm between Grangeville and Cottonwood where
she went to school for seven years. It was small, all 12 grades in one
building, because at that time, Cottonwood was 99 percent Catholic and
Catholics had their own schools. When Joanne was old enough, she
dressed chickens and molded the churned butter the family produced to
sell in Grangeville: 20 cents for a pound of butter, and 40 cents for a
chicken. Milking in the summer was gradually added to her chores.
Joanne’s family was Lutheran and Joanne remembers with gratitude
her loving Sunday School teachers. For three years, she spent
school-year Saturdays going to confirmation classes, studying Lutheran
catechism and the history of Martin Luther.
In 1948, Joanne, her brother, and parents moved to Clarkston because of
her father’s poor health, to a new house at 10th and Bridge
Street. The family then owned and operated several restaurants. She
started the 8th grade in the old junior high on 13th and Sycamore and
remembers that the hallways seemed endless at first, but made friends
quickly, and was glad for the move. She and Don knew each other at that
time, but each thought the other was “stuck up.”
All during school, Don played sports and participated in all of them in
high school. He lettered in track and baseball as a sophomore, then in
football, basketball and track as a senior while he was
student
body president. That was also the year he and Joanne started dating. At
Whitman College in Walla Walla, he majored in physical education and
minored in English and continued to play basketball and run track.
Joanne went to WSU for a year, then they married before Don’s
junior year and Joanne began working at the Corps of
Engineers office in Walla Walla. In his senior year,
Don opted out of playing Whitman basketball to assist as a coach for
football and coach J.V. basketball at St. Patrick’s High School
(now DeSales). Through high school and college summers, Don worked for
his dad.
His first job after graduation was in Waldport, Oregon, where the high
school had 186 students in their four year program. He coached football
and track, and was an assistant in basketball.
The salary was $3800 for teaching three upper-level
English classes and three
biology classes
plus an extra $750 for coaching. Teaching English grammar
especially was a real challenge since English classes at Whitman were
literature, not grammar. Fortunately,
the
freshman and sophomore English teacher had a bit of grammar training
and he became, and still is, a good friend and mentor.
Don went to the University of Oregon for his Master’s in Physical
Education, then the family moved to the Dallas, Oregon, where he taught
high school health and physical
education and
coached as an assistant in basketball and baseball. At that point, they
had three young daughters and their son was on the way. In
1961,
he and Joanne moved back to Clarkston to join his father in the
Lewiston-based paving business. As Don remarked, building a
company was still coaching, because a boss needs to create a team of
workers pursuing quality workmanship.
Ernie, after eight years with
the same
partner, thought Don would be more compatible with the partner than he
was. It wasn’t working, so Ernie bought out the partner in 1962.
The family enjoyed building the small firm with eight employees and not
much equipment into a fairly decent sized company. The first year of
Don’s employ, the business produced 4500 tons of asphalt (about
one day’s production now), diesel cost 19 cents a gallon, and the
total payroll including Don’s salary was $45,000.
Upon their return to Clarkston, the Poes joined the Presbyterian Church
when George Hendrick was returning to serve his second call. He gave a
sermon on stewardship and after hearing that, Don and Joanne decided to
tithe one-tenth of their earnings to the church. At the time, it
amounted to about $50 a month, which seemed like a lot of money. But
the family knew it had received many blessings and the company
also enjoyed some success. As Don put it: “Was that
a
coincidence?”
Both Don and Joanne have served on Session, Don several times
with each of the pastors called since the 1960s. Joanne has been a
Deacon, served on the decorating committee, and has provided flowers
for the sanctuary for many years. When their kids were in school, both
were active in youth groups and also in Young Life when Gary Parsons
was leading. The church family nurtured their children in the critical
years of their lives, and Don and Joanne are grateful for the love and
consideration they received. Their three daughters were married in the
sanctuary.
Don and Joanne have always supported mission trips and Joanne
accompanied the youth to Neah Bay in the 1970s, and both went to West
Virginia while David Strickland was the interim pastor. As empty
nesters, the Poes got involved in a Bible study group, which has lasted
some 25 years. They feel very close to those who had been in the group
and to those who currently belong. They have had a very active civic
life as well, spending time and dollars with local organizations such
as Valley Boys and Girls
Clubs, Tri-State
Hospital Foundation, Lewis-Clark State College,
Walla
Walla Community College, and the
Clarkston Education
Foundation.
Don’s parents were life-long members of the First Christian
Church while Joanne’s parents attended the Lutheran Church in
Clarkston. After Harry’s death, Violet became active at First
Presbyterian. She spent many hours in the kitchen for both the church
bazaar and the Tri-State Hospital bazaar which was then held in
Hendrick Hall. Her delicious cinnamon and dinner rolls were legendary.
Don and Joanne feel really blessed by being members
of this church. They encourage others to do the things that have
satisfied them over the years. Make a dollar commitment, a time
commitment through groups like choir, bible study, Sunday School
teaching, Session, Deacons, or any other activity that needs doing, but
get involved.
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