25 years ago
February 13, 1943
Staff Sergeant Henry L. Johnson, native son and a former Aberdeen high school athlete, has been killed in action in the battle of New Guinea , according to news received by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Olaf Johnson.
Sergeant Johnson entered the army in April. 1941, and was one of the first Aberdeen men to go overseas in the South Pacific. Before going to New Guinea, he was stationed for a time in Australia.
He graduated from Weatherwax high school in 1937 and from the Grays Harbor Junior College in 1939. During his high school days he was a track star and while in college he played on the basketball team.
February 14, 1943
Sunday, no newspaper published
50 years ago
February 13, 1968
Richard R. Balkema, former long-time principal of Weatherwax High School and active in Harbor community affairs for nearly 50 years, died this morning at a local hospital. He was 78 years old.
Balkema came to Aberdeen in 1916 after having taught at Mabton. He served as principal of Samuel Benn school and Franklin school and became principal of Weatherwax in 1923. At the time of his retirement in 1955, he had served longer as principal there than any previous administrator.
February 14, 1968
For a change, the student section didn’t chant it — perhaps they figured it was obvious — But the Aberdeen Bobcats are Number One.
No. 1 in the state and, more importantly, in the Southwest Washington Conference.
The Bobcats solidified both positions last night with a methodical 85-53 rout of 13th-place Olympia before 1,700 somewhat complacent onlookers at Sam Benn Gym.
Forward Ed Jelovich with 18, headed a list of four Aberdonians in double figures. Frazer and Fisher banked 15 apiece followed by Hann with 10.
25 years ago
February 13, 1993
• When life handed Bob and Susan McEndoo of Cosmopolis a lemon, they decided to make pizza pie.
Bob, 38, had worked nine years at the ITT Rayonier vanillin plant in Hoquiam when the plant ceased operation last month.
Instead of uprooting the family and heading east for work, Bob and Susan took a deep breath and plunged into business for themselves. Bob’s severance checks were just enough for a down payment on a little pizzeria on the square in Montesano.
“Things just fell into place,” says Susan, who works during the day as a cook at Miller Junior High and helps out in a friend’s catering business in Aberdeen.
The couple is now in the process of buying Gepetto’s Pizza.
• Aberdeen Police Sgt. John Delia and Officer Scott Slyter, both with keen senses of smell, have been credited with sniffing out an alleged marijuana operation Friday at a house in the 2100 block of Morgan Street in West Aberdeen.
As a result, more than $40,000 in marijuana and another $1,000 in cash was seized at the home according to Sgt. Dallas Hensley, supervisor of the Grays Harbor Drug Task Force.
February 14, 1993
As key problem solver for the 10th annual Rain or Shine Dixieland Jazz Festival, Bill Bramstedt of Cosmopolis has every opportunity to hear the worst about the festival that ends tonight.
But on Saturday he had little bad news to report.
The only complaint he’d regularly heard was that some people didn’t like this year’s decision to use plastic wrist bands rather than pins to identify festival goers.
Bramstedt, the festival manager, calls himself “the number three man in the hierarchy” after organizers Garry Noel and Rob Hilliard. He’s the one who handles ticket refunds, makes sure the bands are happy with the stage equipment and organizes the volunteers.
When he’s not organizing the jazz event, he can be found at Bramstedt Sales Inc., a Cosmopolis business he co-owns with his brother Richard and cousin Fritz.
Compiled from the archives of The Daily World by Karen Barkstrom
