75 years ago
Jan. 5, 1942
Identical twin daughters were born at Aberdeen General hospital this weekend but the little girls won’t celebrate the same birthday. The stork made two trips, arriving the first time at 11:35 o’clock Sunday night and the second time at 12:10 o’clock this morning.
So, although the girls, through life, may share their clothes, and toys and have the same friends, they won’t share a birthday. The twins, Gloria and Mavis, were born to Mr. and Mrs. Lester Samples of East Second St. in Aberdeen.
Jan. 6, 1942
• A wood famine has grown out of Grays Harbor’s cold snap, and dealers, swamped with orders, can’t promise delivery in less than three weeks.
Some range wood is available but not much. And “body wood,” for furnaces and fireplaces, is almost as scarce as new tires.
One dealer, in both wood and coal, said the mineral is satisfactory for wood-burning furnaces provided the homeowner does not fire up too much. “Coal burns much hotter than wood, and may warp the grates of a wood-burning furnace if the fire gets too hot,” he warned.
Another yard foreman shrugged helplessly when asked for a load of furnace wood. “Better canvas your neighborhood and cultivate the man with a full basement,” he said. “He might help you. I can’t.”
• Wartime precautions may prohibit or curtail clam digging on Grays Harbor beaches, among the greatest razor clams beds in the world.
No specific orders have been received from the military or state fisheries authorities, but present regulations being enforced by the army and action already taken by state officials on Puget Sound bring the closure of Grays Harbor beaches within the realm of possibility.
At the present certain parts of the ocean beaches are closed to civilian travel and people are asked by the military to keep off the beaches as much as possible. All lights on the beach are strictly forbidden.
50 years ago
Jan. 5, 1967
Several families dug graves for their dead Wednesday at New York Jewish cemeteries because of a strike of 1,700 union gravediggers. Jews customarily bury their dead within 24 hours.
Five families dug graves at Beth David Cemetery in Elmont, Long Island. Each family had to pay a $10 deposit for two shovels and a pick, but the money was refunded by the cemetery managements when the tools were returned.
“We’re not happy about it, they’re not happy about it, but what can you do?” said Warren Rosen, office manager at Beth David.
Jan. 6, 1967
Are Communist China and the U.S. on a collision course? Can the spread of nuclear weapons be stopped? How can the war on hunger be won?
These and other issues will be explored at a series of public seminars beginning next week in Hoquiam.
Seminar leader Peter R., Dufour, a Grays Harbor College political science instructor, will introduce and lead discussion on topics at eight consecutive Tuesday night meetings, scheduled to begin at 8 o’clock at 511 Sixth St. in Hoquiam.
25 years ago
Jan. 6, 1992
The magnitude of a magical football season is only beginning to hit Mark Bruener.
Three days after he caught a touchdown pass in Washington’s 34-14 Rose Bowl victory over Michigan that gave the unbeaten Huskies a share of the national collegiate championship, the freshman tight end from Aberdeen struggled to put his season’s accomplishments in perspective.
“The season’s like a storybook, a dream season,” he said, his words excitedly cascading forth during a brief weekend visit home. “I never dreamed I wouldn’t redshirt. I never expected to play. Then, in the Rose Bowl, it never occurred to me I’d catch a touchdown pass because I’d been mostly blocking.
“When the opportunity came, it was like ‘oh, my gosh,’” he continued. “It was a dream come true. It’s starting to hit me now.”
Jan. 6, 1992
Tom Flores, who coached the Oakland and Los Angeles Raiders to a pair of Super Bowl championships in the 1980s will succeed Chuck Knox as coach of the Seattle Seahawks, team owner Ken Behring said today.
Knox, 59, resigned Dec. 27, after nine seasons as coach of the Seahawks, who were 7-9 this season.
Compiled from the archives of The Daily World by Karen Barkstrom
