75 years ago

January 3, 1944

“Aberdeen bear makes capitol news.”

This message, accompanied by appropriate clippings, was received today from Aberdeen Seabee Alfon Gribos, now stationed at Camp Peary, Va.

“I was very surprised to find Aberdeen, Washington, prominently displayed on the second page of the Washington Times-Herald, Washington, D.C.” he wrote.

The story was about a 400-pound bear captured with a booby trap. Just below this was another yarn about an Oregon bear. I guess they think a lot of our bears of the Pacific Northwest. All we see out here in the swamps of Virginia are skunks.”

The particular Aberdeen bear to which Seabee Gribos referred was a pig-stealing bruin killed some time ago at Schafer’s camp on the Wynooche Oxbow.

The bear was captured by a “booby trap” made of 10 sticks of powder and a detonator gadget. The trap was set when he had out-smarted a rifle ambush.

January 4, 1944

Letters of appreciation for the thoughtfulness and hospitality extended by the Grays Harbor county Camp and Hospital committee, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and Junior Red Cross, to servicemen stationed in this area at Christmas, have been received by the committee from army, navy and Coast Guard officers.

Ensign A.T. Kirkwold, U.S. M.S., whose ship hasn’t been in an American port for four months, but reached Grays Harbor for Christmas wrote:

“May I take this opportunity before leaving of thanking you for the kindness and hospitality that was extended to myself and other men of this ship during the past Christmas holiday. The gifts and thoughtfulness behind them made one hardy old ‘Salt’ say ‘It is the nicest Christmas I’ve spent in all the years I’ve been away from home.’”

50 years ago

January 3, 1969

To one Harborite, Grays Harbor’s recent cold snap seemed mild.

She is Montesano City Clerk Bertha Satterstrom, who has just returned from a week’s vacation spent visiting her son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Cort Broberg in Fairbanks.

Mrs. Satterstrom reports it was 35 degrees below zero when she arrived in Fairbanks and that it was 52 below when she left last Tuesday.

The worst part of the trip, she says, was the ride from Sea-Tac to Montesano on icy paving.

She was accompanied on her trip by her son, Richard Satterstrom.

January 4, 1969

Flames set off by an explosion of undetermined origin leveled the M.R. Smith shake mill near Moclips, shortly after midnight this morning.

The loss figure was estimated at $150,000, most of it covered by insurance.

After it became evident to the 28 men from fire district 8 that the mill could not be saved, crews fought to save 12 homes in the nearby development of Smithtown which were endangered by the inferno.

The mill was recently purchased by James Stiles, Portland, from Paul R. Smith, son of M.R. Smith, who founded the mill in 1912. Stiles said today he has no plans to rebuild the mill, which employed 40 men.

25 years ago

January 3, 1994

State Patrol Trooper Doug Merino, now Westport’s mayor, says serving as one of Gov. Dixy Lee Ray’s bodyguards in 1978-79 was “probably the highlight of my career.” Ray was found dead at her home on Fox Island, west of Tacoma, on Sunday.

“She was a fantastic person to work for,” Merino said today, recalling the months he spent as a cadet protecting both the governor’s mansion and her Fox Island home.

Actually she was great just as long as the cadets made sure she got to the Sonics games on time, Merino quipped.

January 4, 1994

Former Miss Grays Harbor Angela (Bogdanovich) Turk knows the value of keeping a secret.

Turk, 32, of Woodinville, designed the wedding invitations for Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates and his bride Melinda French.

Turk, owner of a graphic design company, signed a three-page non-disclosure clause that held her liable for a lofty “five-figure” sum if she leaked information about the nation’s most celebrated holiday wedding.

“They wanted to avoid helicopter dog fights over the nuptials,” said Turk, who grew up in Montesano.

“She did tell us she was working on something big and we kind of guessed what it might be,” says Angela’s mom, Romona Bogdanovich of Montesano. “She got to hand deliver some of the invitations in the Seattle area. She said, ‘Mom, you wouldn’t believe who’s on the guest list.’”

Compiled from the archives of The Daily World by Karen Barkstrom