75 years ago
January 25, 1945
Like Rip Van Winkle who saw a changed world after his 20-year nap — Frank Green, 80, Aberdeen resident on his first visit to Seattle in 51 years, saw a thriving metropolis instead of the small waterfront town he remembered.
“I don’t see how they could build such a big city on those hills,” he said. “It must have cost a pile of money. The hills there used to look just like Think o’ Me does now,” he said as he pointed to the rolling green hill that rises from the banks of the Wishkah river near his home.
“I was longshoring on a bark there 51 years ago and knew the waterfront pretty well then. It has changed a lot, but not as much as the hilly part of the city. Why those buildings and streets go up and up where there used to be stumps and trees.”
“I wouldn’t want to live there now,” he added. “It’s so crowded and I’m so slow that I’d be the last person on the last bus to get home at night. And it would be so expensive.”
January 26, 1945
Llewellyn Luce, aviation ordnance man second class, for 16 months in a big aircraft carrier, is spending leave here at the home of his parents of W. Second street.
In connection with crossing the international dateline on Dec. 27, Luce said some pretty rugged initiation ceremonies were imposed on the fellows who were on their initial crossing. His happened to be pretty mild though, he recalled, due to the fact that they were in battle the first time he crossed.
One of the most tedious experiences the men on his carrier endured was 53 days without the sight of land. Luce told how some of the fellows had eaten sand, so happy were they to be back on good old terra firma.
“Every time things get pretty tough going in the navy,” he remarked, “all I have to do is think about the boys in foxholes who don’t have such luxuries as mattresses and clean sheets.”
Luce said that he had sustained no wounds worth mentioning. “I guess I’m lucky like the ship,” he shrugged. “Lady Luck has sure smiled pretty broadly on our carrier,” he added.
50 years ago
January 25, 1970
Paced by John Matisonswith 23 points, the Wishkah Loggers took command of second place in Pacific League standings with a narrow 59-52 win over the Valley Vikings Friday night in Menlo.
The win was the first ever for a Wishkah cage team over the Vikings.
Logger coach Chuck Borberg pointed out Matisons 30 rebounds, 17 caroms by John Davis and Keith Eager’s outstanding defensive job on Viking star John Cable as key factors in the win.
January 26, 1970
When Bob Carey learned that his wife was pregnant, he decided that the first hand to touch their baby would be his.
Although he had never witnessed the birth of another human being, Carey began making plans to deliver the baby himself.
Friday, on a mattress laid on the bedroom floor of the comfortable home where Carey, newly-hired director of the Youth Action Center, and his wife, Joy, are staying.
Carey, reported that Christopher Emmanual Carey, the couple’s first child, arrived without a hitch. “I did it because I wanted to share the moment of bringing forth the new life that the two of us had created,” Carey explained.
25 years ago
January 25, 1995
Fans of the Stafford Creek prison site were cheering like they’d won the SuperBowl Tuesday.
“I think the whole town is kind of experiencing a victory. We won!” said Dorothy Voege, the former Aberdeen City Council member who was co-chairman of the Yes! Stafford Creek Correctional Facility committee.
The Department of Corrections named the site southwest of Aberdeen the site for the next state prison Tuesday. The site off the Westport Highway beat out others in Grandview and Goldendale for a 1,936-bed prison. It will house minimum-medium- and maximum-security prisoners and is scheduled to be built during the 1997-1999 biennium.
January 26, 1995
Steve Young joined former teammate Joe Montana on Wednesday as the only two-time winner of the NFL Player of the Year Award.
“It’s an amazing thing,” Young said. “The second time makes it even more amazing.”
The San Francisco 49ers’ quarterback also won the award in 1993. Montana was the winner in 1989 and 1990.
Other finalists for this year’s award were 49ers receiver Jerry Rice, Dallas running back Emmitt Smith, Detroit running back Barry Sanders, Buffalo defensive end Bruce Smith and Pittsburgh linebacker Kevin Green.
Compiled from the archives of The Daily World by Karen Barkstrom
