While seated in her Lewiston home, Phoebe Paffile holds an album which includes many of her old photographs in this Greg Vogel photo published in the June 25, 1989, Lewiston Tribune. Reporter Michael Haberman interviewed Paffile for one of the stories in his Elders series which accompanied the photo. In it, she detailed the fruit and vegetable operation she operated with her husband, John, on about 25 acres of land along the Clearwater River in the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s. Paffile told about her childhood growing up on Clarkston’s Rankin Hill where her father made his living growing fruits and vegetables, and then of her marriage to John Paffile and starting their first truck farm on five acres in 1926. Their business eventually distributed produce throughout the Inland Northwest, according to the story, and it was hard work. “I’d get up at 4 in the morning and load truck,” Paffile said. “I’d get to bed at 10:30 or so at night usually. Sometimes not.” Readers who would like to share their historical photos (20 years or older) from throughout the region may do so by emailing them to blasts@lmtribune.com or submitting them to: Blast from the Past, P.O. Box 957, Lewiston, ID 83501. Questions? Call Jeanne M. DePaul at (208) 848-2221.
