Linda Navarre spent 26 years shaping young minds in North Idaho classrooms, but her most enduring legacy may be her decades-long fight against hate in a region once dominated by white supremacists.

Navarre will be honored as a Woman of Wisdom for many reasons: her 26 years as a passionate, inspirational Bonner County educator, her active membership in organizations such as the Pend Oreille Arts Council, Friends of Scotchman's Peak and the Idaho Conservation League — and the fact that she braves the waters of Lake Pend Oreille every day all year long.

But Navarre deserves recognition, respect and gratitude most for her decades of leadership in the Bonner County Human Rights Task Force.

Founded in 1992 amid the uprising of the Aryan Nations in North Idaho, the Task Force exists to "promot

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