85 YEARS AGO
February 1, 1941
Aberdeen proved a big and scary place for Donald Wisher, a six-year-old Malone boy, when he became separated from his mother yesterday. Aberdeen police found the boy, dried his tears and gave him a pair of Lone Ranger pistols and told him stories until his mother called at the station for him.
February 3, 1941
A fountain on the Westport highway, known to thousands of Harborites and summer tourists, was torn apart Saturday night by the stick of dynamite placed at the bottom of the concrete settling basin. The blast flung large and small pieces of the basin walls onto and across the highway and as far as 100 feet in the opposite direction across the railroad tracks.
Patrolman Einar Wold said that the wreckers doubtlessly knew considerable about dynamite since the charge was placed and fired under water, a feat possible only to experienced “powder men.”
February 6, 1941
Save-Rite grocery store at 208 South H St. in Aberdeen is advertising six cans of corn, peas, tomatoes or string beans for 55¢; a loaf of Wonder Bread for 15¢; two pounds of butter for 69¢; tender milk-fed chickens for 19¢ a pound; smoked turkey for 40¢ a pound and beef roast for 17 1/2¢ a pound.
February 7, 1941
Grand Opening – Grays Harbor’s new air conditioned “nite” spot, The Gayway, located four miles east of Aberdeen on the new highway. Cube steaks, sandwiches, mixers, hamburgers and hot dogs available every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. Leo Bresse’s six-piece orchestra will be playing from 1 to 4 a.m. on the weekends.
60 YEARS AGO
February 1, 1966
A 79-year-old Ocosta man, Hans Schmidt, and his wife, Bessie, are the first residents in the three counties covered by the area’s Social Security District to receive Medicare cards. “I came directly from Eibenstock, Germany in 1903 to Ocosta to dig clams,” said Mr. Schmidt, “and have been working ever since.”
Residential and commercial construction at Ocean Shores hit approximately the million-dollar mark in 1965, a recap of the year’s building permits indicates.
It was a big year for residence building, with 50 homes, at a total permit value of $435,900 being started during the year.
Most of the larger building expenditures during the year, as usual, were accounted for by motels including the $160,000 three-story addition to the Gitche Gumee Motel.
Buster Keaton, the great stone face of comedy, died today at the age of 70 of lung cancer. The little man with the baggy pants and straw hat began in show business at the age of 4 with his family’s circus and vaudeville acrobatic team.
February 2, 1966
E.K. Bishop, prominent Aberdeen industrialist, was surprised yesterday on the occasion of his 94th birthday with a party staged by a group of his fellow Kiwanians.
The party took place in Bishop’s Finch Building office which he still visits daily. The Kiwanis Club members presented their honored guest with a birthday card and an azalea plant. Kiwanians attending the party included Frank Larner, new club president, Rev. Bertram Rutan, retiring president, R.I. Oestreich, R.M. Scroggs, Von Easter, Walt Failor, Herbert Fovargue, Roy Landberg, Aub Schmidt, Ranson Minkler and Don Gibbins.
February 3, 1966
About 200 feet of beach and most of the middle groin of the North Cove Anti-Erosion Project dropped into the Pacific Ocean within seconds late yesterday, dealing a below-the-belt blow to plans of volunteer workers who had hoped to stem the area’s galloping erosion with the piling and an old car breakwater.
“The bottom just dropped out,” a stunned observer said. On the late afternoon tide, cars were driving on the beach around the end of the 200-foot groin, a few minutes later the beach and 100 feet of groin were gone. A dozen or so pilings still fastened to each other, and to the land-based end of the groin with steel torpedo netting, floated forlornly on the waves where a few minutes before there had been sandy beach.
February 4, 1966
Four Grays Harbor men are kingpins and investors in one of the most ambitious projects to date at Ocean Shores — an $850,000 three-story condominium apartment complex. The 46-unit Canterbury Inn will be started this spring and will boast two firsts at Ocean Shores — an elevator and a heated, indoor swimming pool.
The local men are Dr. John Canterbury, Dr. E.Z. Jones, Dr. Harry Weiner, all of Aberdeen and Curtis G. Johnson of Ocosta.
February 5, 1966
Thriftway stores in Aberdeen and Montesano are advertising corned beef for 79¢ a pound, eight cans of evaporated milk for $1, a 40-oz. jar of School Boy peanut better for 99¢, fresh cabbage for 9¢ a pound and grapes for 10¢ a pound.
February 7, 1966
It was a full house Saturday night at the Driftwood Playhouse where the appreciative audience saw the opening performance of A Majority of One directed by Betty Jean Gretsch.
As Mrs. Jacoby, Jane Mezera, was superb as the wise and understanding Jewish lady. Richard Lane, a really fine character actor, was excellent as Mr. Asamo, the Japanese gentleman for whom Mrs. Jacoby at first feels a deep antagonism.
An attractive couple, John Eko and Marge Hartford, did a capable job as Mrs. Jacoby’s son-in-law and daughter, whose problems are straightened out through the subtle and intelligent meddling of “Mama.”
35 YEARS AGO
February 1, 1991
When Shirley Rivera of Aberdeen heard the unfamiliar voice of an Army captain on the other end of the phone, her heart sank.
Her only son, Danny Powell, 21, is a paratrooper with the Army special forces in Saudi Arabia.
But the bad news last Sunday was a lot better than her worst fears.
Danny had been injured in combat a couple of days before and was on his way to a military hospital at Fort Bragg, N.C. The 1990 graduate of Aberdeen High School is apparently Grays Harbor County’s first casualty of the Gulf war.
Pvt. Powell suffered back and spinal injuries Jan. 19 when the force of a Patriot missile intercepting an Iraqi-launched Scud exploded overheard and threw him from a guard tower.
Doctors still aren’t sure whether the young man will need any rehabilitation therapy, but the soldier said he’s anxious to go rejoin his unit. “I have friends there,” he said.
February 2, 1991
War has dramatically increased interest on the Harbor in joining the military, and while quotas are up, qualifiers are few, say local recruiters.
On average, of 10 people walking through the door at the recruiting office, a few are overweight, a few have criminal history that makes them ineligible, a few don’t meet educational requirements (that include a high school diploma or the person expected to graduate soon) and a few meet all the requirements and prove to be good prospects, said a local recruiter. Since war broke out in the Middle East, “a lot of people have got the idea that we’re going to lower our standards,” says Staff Sgt Clayton Schmidt. “But we’re not!”
• South Bend rallied back from a 13-point deficit to clip Valley 53-51 in a Pacific League boys’ basketball game before an ecstatic crowd in South Bend.
In their final home appearances, Brandon Russell and Sean Reidinger showed determination, poise and style. The talented seniors poured in 20 and 14 points, respectively and made some key plays late in the going to lead the Tribe to victory.
February 3, 1991
Ron Richardson, a French teacher at Aberdeen High School, recently received a package from the French Foreign Legion in the Persian Gulf. The package contained a long, beautifully written letter, an exquisite pencil sketch of a Legionnaire holding the Christ child and several professional-quality color pictures of the 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment.
All were in response to Christmas cards Richardson’s three French classes had sent to the Legion.
“I didn’t even think they’d write back,” said Neil Billingsley, a sophomore in Richardson’s second year French class.
The students also sent letters to American troops serving in the Gulf war, but because he teaches French he thought it would be an enlightening experience for his students to reach out to the legionnaires. “It’s not just the Americans that are there,” Richardson said. “Their (the legionnaires’) lives are on the line just like everyone else’s.”
February 4, 1991
• A 25-point second quarter lifted Ocosta’s Lady Wildcats past Naselle, 52-46, Saturday night in Naselle for their first victory of the girls’ basketball season. The win closed out Ocosta’s Pacific League campaign at 1-10.
Kim Godfrey paced the Wildcats with 22 points, Andrea Cox tallied 11 points and 20 rebounds while Jennie Arndt had nine points.
February 5, 1991
The U.S. Department of Commerce has approved a plan to designate part of the Port of Grays Harbor as a “foreign trade zone,” offering advantages to businesses that import goods into the U.S.
Port officials say the zone will help attract light manufacturers and warehousing business.
In addition, The Lamb-Grays Harbor Co. in Hoquiam has been designated as a “sub-zone.”
February 6, 1991
Nerves are fraying, tempers shortening over the taut purse strings at the Grays Harbor Historical Seaport. The treasury is nearly empty now after the Seaport voted last night to pay $7,670 due this week for quarterly insurance on the tall ship Lady Washington. The vote came after a lengthy discussion in which the City of Aberdeen’s finance director, Fred Thurman, lambasted board members for considering a proposal to let the insurance lapse for a few weeks.
Paying the insurance leaves the Seaport with less than $2,000 in the bank, more than $75,000 in past due bills and only the hope of emergency grant requests from state and private sources coming through by month’s end.
The body of a woman who appears to have been slain recently was discovered this morning off the Blue Slough Road south of Cosmopolis, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff Dennis Morrisette said he had only preliminary information about the case. But he said foul play is suspected.
The discovery, reported to the Sheriff’s Office by the Weyerhaeuser Co. this morning comes hard on the heels of a particularly violent 1990 when the Sheriff’s Office averaged about one homicide a month during the latter half of the year.
February 7, 1991
The City of Westport is rolling out a wide sidewalk for tourists, with the continuation of an esplanade at the Westport Marina beginning this week.
Rotting railings, collapsing bulwarks and a crumbling sidewalk have been replaced by a handsome concrete walkway, flags and plaques for 2 1/2 blocks along Westhaven Drive.
The Aberdeen woman whose battered body was discovered along a logging road southeast of Cosmopolis Wednesday may have been killed by a vehicle, homicide investigators say.
Still unclear is how 33-year-old Elaine McCollum ended up on a logging road between Highway 107 and the Blue Slough Road. about five miles from Cosmopolis. Although the road is heavily used by log trucks, officials say its an unlikely location for someone to be out walking.
Traffic experts with the State Patrol flew in yesterday from Seattle with a high-tech measuring device that uses infra-red beams to make computer-generated diagrams of the crime scene.
The machine, called a Total Station Measuring System, produces precise crime scene diagrams in only a fraction of the time it takes to manually measure and draw them, officials said.
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.
