The Slice: Allison Schuster remembers her neighbor, Bing Crosby

Allison Schuster remembers when Bing Crosby built a summer home next to her family’s place on Hayden Lake.

She was married with young children of her own at the time. She’s 93 now.

She saw the Slice question about how many around here can say they knew Crosby.

“He was always friendly,” she said. “He always waved.”

She said you could always tell when his friend Phil Harris, also an entertainer, was visiting for the week. “You could hear him laugh.”

Today Schuster occasionally encounters people who don’t recognize the name Bing Crosby. “Can you imagine that?”

Name game: “Three of my retired buddies and I decided to put a band together and had been jamming for some time,” wrote Doug Porter of Coeur d’Alene. “We entertained names we thought were cool, like Continuum and Porterhouse, but decided on the one we thought most apt: Clueless.”

Remembering your first day in Spokane: “I drove into Spokane at midnight en route to our new home north of the city,” wrote Roger Long.

It was August 2002. Long was to attend an 8 a.m. meeting at the Mukogawa center that morning. He wanted to locate it before heading on to his new home, to reduce the chance of being late in the morning.

“I noticed a Spokane police officer sitting in a strip-mall parking lot on North Division. I drove up to his car, rolled down my window and asked if he could give me directions to Fort Wright/Mukogawa.”

The patrolman quickly realized Long was totally lost. “Follow me,” he said.

Long will never forget it. “I am always disappointed when I read negative reports about Spokane’s officers, because he certainly went out of his way to welcome me to Spokane.”

JoAnn Story’s memory is a little different. “I moved from Edwall to Spokane on my 16th birthday, a long time ago. That night we went to dinner at The Shack. And my rotten youngest brother ordered frog legs. I thought I was going to die.”

Today’s Slice question: Are you reluctant to text a loved one who might be driving because you fear he or she will read it while behind the wheel?