Don Lindsay: An iconic hardware man in an iconic hardware store
- Mike Ashby
- May 14
- 8 min read
By Mike Ashby
Written October 6, 2019
The man knew what I wanted before I even finished asking the question. The part I was seeking was for an old-time Meeker wood furnace which were once manufactured here in Boundary County. Fact is, I may have one of the last ones made. We acquired that efficient furnace in September 1983, and have been using it every winter since.
I had searched thoroughly in the local hardware stores for the part I was looking for. Only one gentleman my age knew what the terminology of the part was. All I got from others was a blank stare. It was suggested I call a Mr. Don Lindsay, a retired Boundary County hardware store owner. Once Mr. Lindsay heard “Meeker stove draft control” he instantly knew what I wanted and the part name. It seems he had just sold the last one he had stored in his garage two weeks prior to my call.
So began an interesting 30-minute chat with an effusive living legend that Bonners Ferry is still blessed to have residing among us. My second query to him was his age. With a chuckle he said, “Well, I will turn 90 in January 2020.” That answer was swiftly followed with “And I don’t take any medication for anything either, perfectly healthy.”
While having that short conversation it began to dawn on me just what a gem this man is. When he closed his business and retired in 1999, our community lost a readily available living, breathing encyclopedia of information, knowledge, know-how, wisdom, and just plain old-fashioned savvy about everything associated with the hardware business.
Don had been a part of Lindsay-Helmer Hardware at 7178 Main St in downtown Bonners Ferry since the early 1940s. He got his start in hardware by working in the store after school and on weekends. My instincts told me I had to interview him.
Greeting me at his home on the South Hill of Bonners Ferry with a huge smile, he immediately made me feel at ease. He and his wife, Veryl, bought that home in 1955 and he has lived there since. They were married for 63 years when Veryl passed away in March 2016.
Recounting my initial phone call in search of a vintage Meeker wood furnace part, he proceeded to tell me the history of the Meeker Machine Shop. Before that morning was over, I heard a great deal more of the history of this part of North Idaho. Having lived here my entire life, I thought I knew as much about the community as anyone, but Don’s memory is unbelievable. For the duration of my visit with him he was able to recount details about our town and its people that astounded me.
Don Lindsay’s life began January 20, 1930, in Hamilton, MT. Within days of his birth, he was placed on a train bound for the Salvation Army Hospital in Spokane, WA. That train ride to Spokane was cold, very cold. Someone placed a hot water bottle on his bottom to help keep him warm. Apparently that hot water bottle was scalding hot, as Don said he still bears a scar on his bottom from that train ride. Upon arrival in Spokane, he was adopted by Boyd and Evalda Lindsay.
In 1945 his father, Boyd Lindsay, purchased Kemp-Cleveland Hardware in Bonners Ferry and later formed a partnership with Ted V. Helmer in 1946. Thus began Lindsay-Helmer Hardware, Inc.
Besides working in the store as a teenager, Don continued to work there while attending University of Idaho. When asked how he ever kept track of all the many different items the store stocked, he simply said “I had to.” Early on he had to learn the nomenclature and terminology of a host of hardware items. He gives boundless credit to his high school education in preparing him for life in general and the hardware business. Various helpful classes, including a course in refrigeration which he studied, were offered by the school district here.
In 1948 the Kootenai River flooded the entire town. On his way home from his high school graduation party, Don called his dad and said the river was at 23 feet. Boyd said, “We move the store, now.” A few hours later the river reached 28 feet and the town was flooded.
With help from friends and family, they moved the entire inventory of Lindsay-Helmer Hardware. They put as much as they could in their own garage and the rest was parceled out to 14 different neighbors and friends. Because the store was so pivotal in providing parts, piping, and so forth for the multitude of pumps running around the valley, they had to know where everything was stored. Don kept an inventory list of where every single item from the store was stockpiled. If needed, he would fetch it for the customer from the correct storage area.
After high school, Don finished his schooling at the University of Idaho at Moscow. He obtained a B.S. degree in merchandising and advertising. While attending college, Don entered the ROTC program. Upon graduating from the University, he was commissioned a 1st lieutenant in the U.S. Army and shipped off to Korea. Upon his arrival in Japan, the war ended so 1st lieutenant Don Lindsay came home, no worse for wear. He returned to Bonners Ferry and began a lifelong service to his community through Lindsay-Helmer Hardware.
Don married Veryl Gloria Moore August 3, 1952, at the former Trinity Lutheran Church in downtown Bonners Ferry. Veryl and Don Lindsay raised two children: Shellye Dawn (1956) and Scot Shawn (1958) making sure their first name spellings were unique, by the way.
Over the years, Lindsay-Helmer Hardware saw many changes in this community, but the fine service and assistance they offered never changed. Don’s memory of various items in the store is legendary. Not only did he know precisely what you needed, even if you did not, but he knew exactly where among the myriad nooks and crannies of the store that that item was located. There were three floors in the building: basement, main floor and a mezzanine over a portion of the main floor. In those three areas were literally hundreds if not thousands of everyday needs for the farmer, rancher, woodsman, homeowner and horseman. Even when the business was closed in 1999, they were still selling horseshoes. I’ve been in a lot of today’s hardware stores, but I’ve never seen horseshoes on the shelves.
When asked what the most unusual item he was ever asked for, he started laughing and chortling. After several moments of guffawing he said, “I once was asked if we have condoms.” Don’t believe I have ever seen those in any hardware store. When asked what the strangest or oddest repair job was completed “in store,” Don deliberated for a bit and then answered, “We sent all those kinds of jobs over to Meekers.”
The most hectic and busiest times of year for Don were springtime and Christmas. I had assumed Christmas would be first on the list, not second. Don said that until Libby Dam on the Kootenai river was finished in 1975 there was some flooding and/or seepage to attend to every year. Farmers and ranchers needed pumps, piping, and all the assorted fittings. A power threader was in the basement that could cut thread on pipe from 1/8 inch to 2 inches. They were threading pipe day and night during high water. Since Lindsay-Helmer was the only local establishment carrying those parts, they were extremely busy. Last, but certainly not least, they offered knife sharpening in-store. Either the customer could stand there and sharpen their own knife or one of the employees would do it for them.
Don added that in all the years they were in business, the store was never burglarized nor was the victim of an armed robbery. He gives all the credit to the Bonners Ferry Police Department for that record. Every night of each day, a police officer would walk a beat in the downtown area, checking windows and rattling doors to be sure the owner had not inadvertently left anything unlocked. To his chagrin the police called him at home a time or two to come lock the door and help the cop make a tour of the store to make sure it was secure.
Mr. Lindsay bought out his partner Ted Helmer in the mid-60s but kept the name of the business the same: Lindsay Helmer Hardware Incorporated. When Don’s father, Boyd, moved into the Community Restorium, his grandson, Scot, would bring his grandpa down to the store to still take part in the day-to-day business. He continued to do that until Boyd Lindsay died in 1983.
The store was sold in 1999 to a doctor who planned to operate a clinic of one nature or another in the building. Don related that closing the store was one of the hardest decisions he had to ever make. The giant box stores were making it impossible for him to compete. Those stores could out-price him on everything he sold and so consequently he was priced out of business. The day that Lindsay-Helmer closed it doors for the final time was a poignant and melancholy day for this community. An era had ended. A matchless business was gone. Change had come to Bonners Ferry.
Today the Lindsay-Helmer building is occupied by “Under the Sun,” an eclectic gift store, coffee shop and restaurant. They are open from 8-5, Monday thru Saturday. A goodly portion of the shelving that made up parts storage of Lindsay-Helmer is still in use. The well-worn wooden flooring still creaks as you walk through the store and for some of Don’s old-time customers, the atmosphere of the original Lindsay-Helmer Hardware still hangs in the air of that building.
Don Lindsay is everyone’s ideal of what a proficient and talented uncle or grandpa should be. From flying his own airplane to staying up countless nights to help customers, he is a living legend. A neighbor, Darrell Kerby, offered up the following accolades about Don.
“Don Lindsay is the epitome of the “Norman Rockwell” hardware storeowner of yesteryear. A place where customers not only sought out hardware but warm, honest, friendly advice of how to solve life’s household and farm problems. Nearing his nineties, Don continues to be as active as a 60-year-old as he offers advice and tells stories of the history of growing up in a County and a place that time has long left behind. Don is a true living gem of Bonners Ferry. His recall of both time and events is as astounding as it is legendary and his mind a steel trap of what part and pieces are needed to fix anything, and I mean anything. Spending a few hours around him is like going back to school and taking courses ranging from Idaho History to the American occupation of post WWII Japan. Don is a true genius in anybody’s book and a man of vision, invention, honesty and integrity. Today there are still hundreds and hundreds of former customers whose lives are better because of him but unfortunately there are thousands more who are no longer here to tell their stories about how this man loomed so large in their lives. It is true beyond certainly that Bonners Ferry will never be able to replace nor duplicate a Don Lindsay.”
Don Lindsay, truly a man of “Those Were the Days.”
Editor's note: Donald Boyd Lindsay, age 95, passed away of natural causes February 27, 2025, at Sunset Home Assisted Living in Bonners Ferry.
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