Looking Back with Lora Stull
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One Hundred Years Ago
(From the Mount Ayr Record News, Thursday, April 6, 1921.)
Good fortune or sheer luck is responsible for the fact nobody was killed and serious injury did not result from the collision of a Ford runabout driven by Claude Mapel and the handcar at the crossing one block west of the depot about noon Saturday.
The runabout was being driven from south at a rate of speed variously estimated and Mr. Mapel apparently did not see the hand car until just before the accident. C V Spargur and three of his helpers were on the car traveling eastward on the track when the Ford nosed into it broadside with such force that the handcar was thrown clear of the tracks and the Ford doubled up with radius rods bent and one fender demolished.
The working tools of the road gang were scattered hitter and yon. “Jimmie” French suffered painful scratches on the face and to escape what looked like inevitable death, Mr. Spargur jumped from the car. It was a narrow escape for Mr. Mapel and members of the section crew.
At the convention of school presidents, held yesterday afternoon at the court house, Miss Louise Askern, the present county superintendents of schools, was relected by an overwhelming majority, receiving 18 of 22 votes cast.
After convention the committee met and after canvassing the situation decided upon the following wage scale for teachers for the coming year. For rural schools; teachers holding first grade certificates, $90 per month; teachers holding second grade certificates, $80 per month; teachers holding third grade certificates, $70 per month. For town schools, superintendents $200 per month; high school principal, $135 per month; other high school teachers $125 per month; grade teachers $90-$100 per month; primary teachers, as reasonable a price as possible.
Marriages: Last Saturday afternoon, Kathleen McCartney and John O’Dell…March 19, Alice Hogue and William Larson.
Obituaries in this edition were: Edna May Comer (infant), Mrs. S.E. (Johnson) Manson, Eleanor Abigail Erkley Shannon, Ferle Iona Watts (infant), and Iowa Fern Andrews.
Seventy-Five
Years Ago
(From the Mount Ayr Record News, Thursday, April 4, 1946.)
Service Selections: Lieut. Robert Miller, son of Mr. and Mrs. Joe Miller of Mount Ayr, has recently reported for duty as a personal affairs officer at the Army Airforce training center at San Antonio, TX.
A veteran of six months in the China-Burma-India Theatre as a bombardier, Lieut. Miller participated in 38 combat missions and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal, and One Oak Leaf Cluster, The Presidential Citation and Chinese War Memorial Badge. Prior to his entry into the army, Lieut. Miller was engaged in farming three miles west of Mount Ayr.
Marriages: March 8, Frances Darlene Thruman and Claude Janecke…March 30, Jean Olson and Donald Kidney…April 4, Norma Levi and Erwood Huffman.
Births: April 2, a daughter, to Mr. and Mrs. Roy Blunck…April 2, a son, Jimmy, to Mr. and Mrs. Joe Dalton…March 27, a son, to Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Hailey…Born Saturday, a son, Edward, to Mr. and Mrs. N.S. Todd.
Obituaries in this edition: William Lee Waggoner, Marietta Sloan Scott, Dora Tharp Millsap, Edna Marie Wolf Haviland, Audrey Ray Rush (3 yr).
Fifty Years Ago
(From the Mount Ayr Record News, Thursday, April 8, 1971.)
The Mount Ayr municipal swimming pool will open June 7, under co-managers, according to park board president, Merlyn Allen. Stephen Mitchell and Neil Rinehart, who have worked as lifeguards at the pool for several years, have been named co-managers by the park board, which operates the pool in Judge Lewis Park.
Mount Ayr firemen were summoned to the Mount Ayr Hotel early Thursday morning, April 1 to extinguish a blaze which broke out in a room on the second floor. Henry Elmer, occupant of the room located in the northwest corner of the building, called hotel manager, Vic Thompson at 3 a.m. and Thompson called the fire department.
Marriages: Peggy Johnson and Ronnie Trower…January 16, Carolyn Royster and Lyman Elswick.
Births: March 30, a daughter, to Mr. and Mrs. Carl Burton…April 4, a daughter, to Mr. and Mrs. Donald Murphy.
Obituaries in this edition were: Charles William Hickman and Edmond Howe James.
Twenty Five Years Ago
(From the Mount Ayr Record News, Thursday, April 4, 1996.)
A landscaping project at the east intersection of Highway 2 & 169, contracts for park summer employees and discussion of some possible police job descriptions were among topics for the Mount Ayr city council at its regular meeting Monday night.
The MACH school jazz band will be competing in the 1996 Iowa Jazz Championships today, Thursday, in Des Moines. Under the direction of Greg Strohoff, the band will be competing in the Class 2A division with 15 other bands. Members of the Raider jazz band this year are: Ami Patel, Kim Parrish, Laura Jones, Josie Stephens, Scott Lauritsen, Ginger Pettit, Jamie Haidsiak, Jared Penick, Aaron Comer, Darin Dolecheck, Erin Smith, Rachel Derscheid, Justin Murphy, Joe Hynek, Nathan Reasoner, B.J. Poppe, Brooke Mitchell, Regan Mason, Travis Johnson, Josh Waske, Jack Campbell and Billy Roberts.
Ribbon cuttings held. A ribbon cutting was held at Mount Ayr Diner, the restaurant has re-opened along Highway 2 & 169. Rhonda & Khaled Abdalla, owners. The second ribbon cutting was held for Steve Oxley Tractor Repair in the former Baker Well & Manufacturing building north of Mount Ayr on Highway 169.
Marriages; November 25, 1995, Roxanne Boone and Monte Adkisson.
Obituaries in this edition: Ocle Florene Staton Lamb, Ted W. Moffitt and Nathan Wesley Hunter.
TenYears Ago
(From the Mount Ayr Record News, Thursday, March 31, 2011.)
Seven Ringgold County residents were detained following an investigation concerning illegal sale of prescription drugs in Ringgold County sheriff’s department action Monday, March 28. Four adults and three juveniles were detained on the charge of delivery of a controlled substance.
A lawn mower from Hensley Trailer Sales in Mount Ayr will be making a trip to a mission in Haiti as part of the effort of Blessman Heart International, a Palmyra, MO based Christian mission group.
Kevin Kilgore of rural Diagonal will not be seated as a Jefferson Township trustee, an election contest court decided after hearing on the matter held Monday, March 21 in Ringgold County courthouse. While the court agreed that Kilgore received a majority of the votes, it ruled that the positions should not have been on the election ballot and the action of the county auditor and county board of supervisors invalidating the 2010 township trustee and clear election for Jefferson Township was correct.
Births: March 10, a son, Tripp, to Jamie and Amanda Trammel.
Obituaries in this edition were: Gary Lee Hensley, Thomas James Miller, and J. B. Routh.