World gone by
Published 1:30 am Saturday, April 18, 2026
85 YEARS AGO
April 14, 1941
A series of hygiene lectures conducted by Dr. Fred Messing of Portland, executive secretary of the Oregon Social Hygiene society, opened this morning in Miller junior high school under the sponsorship of the P.T.A.
Messing will deliver three lectures a day for boys and three for girls. His subjects are healthy background for a healthy life, biology of the human body and care of the body.
Mr. and Mrs. Peter Schafer were the honor guests at an Easter dinner last evening at the Hotel Morck when members of their family entertained there. Mr. and Mrs. Schafer had recently returned from a two weeks trip in California. Covers were laid for twenty-four.
April 15, 1941
Use of WPA labor on a new fill and road connecting McKinley and Burleigh avenues through Benn Park was approved today by state WPA officials, Aberdeen City Engineer S. C. Watkins announced.
The project calls for filling in a canyon between the Benn park ends of the two avenues, replacing a footbridge with a gravel road. The sharp turn on Hanna Avenue near the Pioneers’ cottage in the park will be widened and rebanked.
April 16, 1941
Wide-open battle flamed along the entire British front in Greece today, and the Germans acknowledged that Hitler’s blitzkrieg invasion was meeting “stubborn” resistance after previously asserting that the allies were in headlong retreat.
It was apparent that a climactic struggle which may decide the fate of the Aegean kingdom was fast developing.
April 17, 1941
When school recesses in June for summer vacation, 13-year-old Jack Castle, Aberdeen junior high school seventh-grader, probably won’t join in when the rest of the pupils shout “no more pencils, no more books, no more teachers …”
For Jack thinks school’s a pretty nice place to spend your time. And he has good reason for his sentiment.
About five year ago, he was almost completely blind after developing cataracts. Half way through the fourth grade his eyesight had dimmed so much, he was forced to leave school. Then came the operations — three on his left eye and two on the right. When the bandages were loosed after the final operation last May and Jack was fitted with glasses with rather thick bifocal lenses, he could see again.
Things have been happening pretty rapidly for Jack since then. Although he never attended fifth or sixth grade, he is holding his own with the other junior high students and he’s looking forward to his first “daylight” summer in a long time. He’d like to catch up with his swimming and bicycle riding and maybe try a little fishing.
60 YEAR AGO
April 12, 1966
With elaborate settings inspired by the theme, “An American Beauty Rose,” the Miss Grays Harbor Pageant of 1966 is expected to be an outstanding production.
The pageant will be presented Saturday night at Miller Auditorium where 12 young women will complete. Mr. and Mrs. Carroll Agee are both contributing their talents to the event with Mrs. Agee (Bessie) being the make-up consultant and her husband serving as master of ceremonies.
April 13, 1966
Tough luck, cadets, but shapely Cathy Christy won’t be joining the Long Gray Line this summer after all.
Cathy is a brunette Ashland, Ore. high school senior who shook up Army brass by trying to smash the sex barrier at West Point. But she’s lost her bid to become the first girl at the U.S. Military Academy.
When Pentagon officials learned that Cathy had lost out to a rugged male in the academy sweepstakes, the sighs of relief nearly rippled waters of the murky Potomac between the Pentagon and Capital Hill.
April 14, 1966
Count Felix Von Luckner, who sank 14 allied ships in World War I without taking a life, is dead at 84.
During the war, Von Luckner, whose fame earned him the name “Sea Devil,” commanded an innocent looking windjammer which carried concealed guns and a powerful motor. Masquerading as a Norwegian freighter, the Seeadler (Sea Eagle) scuttled $25 million worth of Allied ships, but the famous German captain took their crews — and even their pets — off first and looked after them until he could put them to shore.
April 15, 1966
There’s a bright, new metropolitan look to the corner of Broadway and Wishkah Street where the newly remodeled and enlarged Pay ‘N Save Drug is observing its grand opening.
Manager Bob Donaldson and his assistant, Dan McDougal, are particularly proud of the cosmetic and pharmacy departments.
Also enlarged has been the camera department which includes a complete stock of GE radios, record players and — according to Bob Mallory, department head — the largest selection of records in Southwest Washington.
April 16, 1966
The Morck Hotel in Aberdeen has been purchased from William Hamman by the Balanced Investments Corp. of Seattle it was announced today.
The new owners plan to continue the aggressive convention and meeting sales program that Hamman established at the Morck to utilize the excellent group facilities. The five-story, 151-room hotel is famous for its Coach House Broiler, Highlander Room and Coffee House.
April 18, 1966
Michael Carr, a Port Orchard student pilot, learned one of the flying DON’Ts Sunday afternoon when his single engine plane got away from him at the Ocean Shores airport and ran into three other planes, causing an estimated $5,000 damages.
Carr, who was making his solo cross-country flight from Port Orchard to Ocean Shores Sunday, was about to return when, standing outside the plane, he flipped the propeller and discovered too late that the throttle was advanced too far. The plane bolted away pilotless from its parking space with Carr running close behind.
A witness described the scene that followed as a bad act in a silent movie.
Carr almost caught the plane several times as it ran an erratic circular course around the landing strip, but his wind gave out and he fell behind as the plane took a straight course toward a group of startled golfers.
After scattering the golfers, the plane picked its final collision course and slammed into a 1966 Skyhawk and then veered into a 1965 Bonanza and a 1962 Beachcraft.
No one was injured.
35 YEARS AGO
April 13, 1991
The Frank Burruss family is creating a auto mall — a one-stop-does-all service station in downtown Aberdeen. Today they plan the grand opening of the revamped City Center Service at Heron and K streets where you can buy your tires, get your lube job, buy your insurance and stereos, get a hand-done car wash, buy a cellular phone, get fancy neon accessories — well, it goes on and on.
The family is calling it an auto mall. A recent phenomenon in cities like Seattle, auto malls provide almost everything the motorist needs at one stop. For Frank, it’s just an extension of the way he’s done business in Aberdeen for 40 years.
Frank and his wife Dona have pumped so many kinds of gas on the Harbor it sounds like a history of the petroleum industry. They’ve sold Texaco, Flying A, Phillips 66 and Unocal. Now, their brand is BP.
Grays Harbor County’s percentage of juvenile arrests — 123 per thousand — ranks sixth in the state.
The supervisors at the Juvenile Facility near Junction City at Aberdeen’s east city limits have spent a lot of time asking why this is.
“When we do background studies, we find a lot of abuse, particularly sex abuse,” says Rod Herling, the county’s director of health and human services, who oversees the Juvenile Facility. “Eighty to 90 percent of the kids are from backgrounds of neglect or abuse,” he says.
The “Juvie” supervisors see a lot of Grays Harbor cultural trends that could lead to juvenile crime. They cite high unemployment rates, high drop-out rates, leaving kids with little to do, and they cite an adult culture that includes lots of alcohol and drugs.
April 14, 1991
Erupting for seven runs in the seventh inning, Ocosta stunningly handed Pe Ell its first Pacific League baseball loss, 8-7, Saturday in Pe Ell.
The Trojans grabbed a 7-1 advantage after two innings and it stayed that way heading into the seventh.
Then Ocosta’s Keven Hatton went all the way to third on a throwing error and scored when Jeremiah Iverson hit into a fielder’s choice. Lonny Hatton and Ashley Dickinson stroked consecutive singles and Aaron Brockhoff ripped a two-run double. After a pair of walks, freshman Lee White singled to knock in the tying and go-ahead runs.
April 15, 1991
They’re billing it as a get-to-know-you session. But when the Aberdeen and Hoquiam city councils mingle tonight for the first time in many years, their informal discussions may well be sprinkled with talk of economic cooperation.
Both cities have faced some tough budget decisions recently, according to Aberdeen Councilman Pete Schave, who along with Council President Chuck Gurrad spearheaded the effort. Maybe the meeting tonight at the River Haven restaurant in Hoquiam will allow the two councils to brainstorm about possible ways of cutting costs together.
Montesano batters took advantage of the friendly Forks fences Saturday as they slugged out a West Cowlitz League doubleheader win over the Spartans, 14-6 and 16-0.
Catcher Scott Birdsall hit two home runs on the nightcap and Brian Vickers who had five RBI, slammed a homer and a double.
Ryan Fournier had a dinger in each game.
Other Monte homers were launched by Vern Jones and Jake Papac in the first game and Todd Gillman and Bryan Bruner in the nightcap.
April 16, 1991
“I want to live in Hoquiam,” J. Scott Finlayson declared earlier this month when his appointment as the city’s new police chief unwittingly made him the center of a controversy.
It looks as if the police lieutenant from Logan, Utah, will get his wish.
On Monday, an acting Superior Court judge cleared a major roadblock to his appointment.
Retired Judge John Schumacher let stand a hurriedly-adopted city ordinance that removes the police chief’s position from Civil Service and instead puts the power of appointment into the hands of the mayor and council.
April 17, 1991
The Polson Park and Museum will honor longtime logger and schoolboard member Asa Fishel as the 1990 Pioneer of the Year at a ceremony Sunday at the Lake Quinault Lodge.
Born in Illinois in 1902 Fishel came to Humptulips with his parents , traveling to Hoquiam by train, then by horse and wagon to Humptulips.
Since living in Neilton, Fishel has logged with horses, built roads, worked as a sawyer for Saginaw Lumber Co., felled timber for the Polson Logging Co. and worked for Mayr Brothers.
April 18, 1991
An estimated 22,000 gray whales are expected to pass along Grays Harbor’s Pacific Coast in the annual spring migration from Baja, Mexico, to the abundant feeding areas in the Bering Sea near Alaska. That’s 2,000 more than in recent years, says John Smith of Aberdeen, marine biologist and retired Grays Harbor instructor who coordinates whale watching excursions with Whales Ahoy charter.
On a clear, bright morning last Friday, Whales Ahoy hosted a group of some 30 high school juniors and seniors from Seattle. In four hours, the youngsters had sighted numerous grays whales, including one that crossed under the bow of the boat.
Compiled from the archives of The Daily World by Karen Barkstrom, Editorial Assistant at The Daily World. You can contact her at karen.barkstrom@thedailyworld.com or call her at 360-537-3925.
