Museum presents 3 ECHO Awards
On Saturday, October 17^th, the Historical Museum at St. Gertrude honored community members who have made outstanding contributions to preserve local history. This year’s Echo Awards were presented to:
Around 1970, the Lion’s Club raised the funds to build the Farm Museum at the Idaho County Fairgrounds, helping preserve agricultural history. Members gathered farm artifacts, along with the family stories associated with them. They invited the Sunshine Club to create kitchen and living room exhibits and the Idaho County Cowbells to create a rancher’s quarters.  The museum hosts photographs of past Fair activities and of prairie life and landmarks, all displayed for easy viewing.
The museum remains free to visitors, welcomes groups throughout the year, and continues to be a highlight of the Idaho County Fair. The Lion’s Club also took on another important preservation project: tending and fencing the grave of William Foster, who died in the Nez Perce War.
Jerry Johnson began sharing local history through two books. His first, Voices from Our Past, is an anthology of family memories spanning 150 years. His second, Woodland Hill, tells the story of the early settlement in and around Woodland.
In 2024, Jerry created a high-quality poker deck featuring Idaho County pioneers born before 1900. The following year, he designed a pinochle deck with twice as many pioneers, using the deck’s additional face cards to expand the stories he could share. Each deck includes a QR code that leads to the pioneers’ stories. By late 2025, he had also created a poker deck highlighting Idaho’s prominent lookouts. Through these creative projects, Jerry is making history accessible, engaging, and fun. His cards draw unwitting victims into history, one trick at a time.
Jerry also created a map titled The Museum at St. Gertrude’s Realm, which identifies the places connected to stories preserved in our museum. Through his books, card decks, and map, Jerry helps people connect names, places, and stories in memorable ways.
Scott has volunteered thousands of hours as a filmmaker, creating short historical videos for museums and online platforms that educate the public about local history. Four of his films are currently featured in our museum: three produced for the monastery—a campus tour, an explanation of the Center for Benedictine life, and a third about our co-housing community, the Koinonia.  The fourth video playing in the museum is about children, including an infant, who were mailed by railroad.
He has also produced videos on town histories, historic fires, defunct railroads, and archaeological sites. In addition to preserving stories, Scott’s work helps nonprofits share their missions, reach wider audiences, and invite people to care about the places and histories they steward. Through careful research, compelling storytelling, and generous service, Scott brings local history to life for audiences.
The ceremony brought community members together to celebrate these honorees, underscoring the vital role that individuals and organizations play in keeping our shared heritage alive.  After the ceremony, everyone was invited to a reception in the dining room.