The Hayden Historic Preservation Commission is currently collecting family histories that will ultimately be gathered into a two-volume book.  In the future, we will be sharing some of the more interesting stories with you readers of the Hayden Chamber of Commerce newsletter.

Our historic heroine for today is Vera O'Meeka Lacey, born in Mohler, Washington at the beginning of the 20th century. With only an occasional country doctor and no hospitals in such a remote area of the northwest, only the strong survived. Vera's mother died when Vera was just ten years old. Luckily, she and her three younger brothers (Boyd, Marion and Louis) were welcomed into the home of their father's brother, Louis, and his wife, Grace, who were childless. The Lacey home was a happy one; the children were truly blessed with loving, adoptive parents and friendly neighbors in this corner of Idaho.
In the 1920s, a weekly farmer's market was held at the corner of 4th Street and Lakeside in Coeur d'Alene. Father Louis would hitch up the mules and drive the family into town with a wagonload of kids and fresh vegetables and flowers. All the produce not sold at the farmer's market would be sold to the Post Falls cannery.
The family gardens were popularly known as Lacey's Gardens, which were located at their home on Lacey Avenue as well as a two-acre plot north of the Hayden Lake School to Orchard Avenue on U.S. Highway 95 (now known as N. Government Way).
Thriving in this healthy atmosphere, young Vera discovered the joy of cultivation of the soil, the beauty of flowers, and the economic value of hard work. She was a good student and after graduating from Hayden Lake School, she attended Lewiston Normal School for two years where she received her teaching certificate.
Vera taught at various one-room school houses until 1923 when she married a neighbor boy, James Casey. They said their wedding vows at the Presbyterian parsonage in Coeur d'Alene; she always remembered picking wild violets from the roadside to wear on her wedding dress.
Vera and her new husband lived on in this area where Jim made a living logging and Vera continued to teach. Finally, they purchased a small farm near his father's place. They had three children: James Douglas, Meeka Janet, and Morva Marion. Following family tradition, Vera began to cultivate very large flower gardens. She was a tiny, feisty lady who seemed to work all the time, always in her beloved gardens.
The Kootenai County Fair Board asked her to oversee the care of the flowers when they were brought in at fair time. Vera Lacey Casey was Flower Superintendent for over twenty years and when she retired, she was greatly honored by the Fair Board.
James Casey died in 1985 and the flower lady, Vera, followed him in 1988.