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New start on life

by BILL BULEY
Staff Writer | May 23, 2022 1:09 AM

COEUR d’ALENE — It was the end of the workday in Colorado and Adam Frederick Stohlton was making a final check of the bank roof where he and others had installed skylights.

“We had thrown all our safety gear down," he said. "I went up to the peak and was looking around to make sure we hadn't left nothing."

He spotted an extension cord and went to get it.

“I took one step down on the shady side of the roof and ski-ramped it,” Stohlton said.

He tried to grab anything.

"I ripped off every bit of felt paper up there. I left all my fingernails embedded in the plywood. I was trying to stop myself," Stohlton said.

He didn’t.

The military veteran fell 45 feet. His left leg took the worst of it.

"If I show you all the scars, you're going to freak out,” he said during a recent interview at the St. Vincent de Paul HELP Center in Coeur d’Alene.

Six 3-inch screws, two metal plates and two rods were used to rebuild his leg. He spent years in the hospital and physical therapy.

“From my knee down to just above my toes is all fused into one bone,” he said.

His back, hip and arm were hurt.

Since then, more than a decade later, he has been on disability.

Yet, he considers himself “extremely lucky.”

“I can still get around. I do believe the good Lord was looking out for me," he said.

Stohlton, who attended Post Falls High School, speaks quietly. He is a man of few words. He moves slowly. He's a no-nonsense type who accepts what life brings his way.

“I tell it like it is,” he said.

Today, he is a house captain living in the St. Vincent de Paul men’s shelter. But he is soon to have his own two-bedroom apartment in Post Falls, Section 8 housing, thanks to his veteran status.

He is excited.

“I know where I'm going to be. I know what apartment I'm going to be in. It's just waiting for all the paperwork to go through,” Stohlton said. “And these people are absolutely wonderful.”

He is speaking of the folks at St. Vincent’s who helped him get a new start at life four months ago, when he arrived in Coeur d’Alene without a place to go, knowing no one.

“They helped me out immensely. They're not judgmental. They're just, you know, very good people," he said.

Military and more

Stohlen joined the Marines at age 17 in 1979 and found himself at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, N.C. Four years in the military taught him discipline, dedication and resolve. Work hard, and you'll be rewarded. Screw up, and you pay a price.

"I was a very squared away Marine,” he said. “I was a 4.0 Marine. I scored outstanding in everything.”

Stohlton believes everyone should serve two years in the military.

“I think it would really help out the kids nowadays just to get that discipline and that patriotic feeling,” he said. “They would learn to say, ‘I’m working for my country, my country’s not working for me.'”

Gifted with the ability to build almost anything, he left the military and drove a tractor-trailer, hauling new cars to sales lots.

“Until I was not paying attention and ran under a little low bridge and took the top off of a couple cars,” he said, chuckling. “I decided that was enough for that.”

He built homes and custom cabinets, and even made baseball bats.

Stohlton credits his father with instilling in him drive, skills and vision, starting with building and flying remote-control planes together.

“Every chance I got I was out there either doing lathe work or some other work. I built a grandfather clock when I was younger, a butcher block for my mom in the kitchen,” he said. “I’ve just been very handy.”

After the fall

Falling off a roof, though, wasn’t something he could work his way out of on his own.

He moved to the Sandpoint area, where he lived in a trailer on a relative’s property and stayed for a decade. Last year, they had a falling out, and Stohlton headed for Coeur d’Alene.

He arrived homeless and paid for a motel room until he was directed to Bob Daugherty, veterans administrator for St. Vincent de Paul North Idaho.

Soon, he was back on his feet.

Stohlton said being a house captain of the men’s shelter has given him the chance to help himself and a younger generation.

“They're there for three things: To get their life together, to look for work and then look for housing.”

He sleeps in the bunkhouse with the others, monitors shelter residents, makes sure they check out and check in on time, and clean up after themselves.

"I'm not on the street," Stohlton said. "I'm not being abused by anybody. They make sure that I can go to my doctor's appointments. They check and make sure that you're saving your money. You have to save half of your paycheck every month. And they do check, because they want to make sure that you have money to move on."

Future hopes

He offers fatherly advice to those at the shelter facing their own challenges as they look to get back on track.

“This is not a place to screw up," he says. "This is a place to get your life together."

There are veterans at the shelter and on the street. Stohlton said one is living nearby in his truck, reluctant to accept help.

Stohlton isn't too proud to accept a hand up.

His face is lit up as he talks about the luxury of a spare room once he settles into his new apartment.

“I'm going to turn that into either a room for model trains or I'm going to build more model airplanes and fly those,” he said.

Above all, Stohlton is thankful. Yes, for a two-bedroom apartment to call home. For St. Vincent's.

And for life.

"It's by the grace of God I am still with us after a 45-foot fall," he said.