Looking Back

(From the Mount Ayr Record-News,Thursday, August 27, 1924.)

The painting campaign recently inaugurated by the working force at the Mount Ayr post office, which includes the postmaster, chief clerk, assistant clerks and the carriers on the five rural routes, to bring the mail boxes on all the routes up to the standard required by the post office department, is meeting with gratifying results.

A portion of the post office basement has been converted into a paint shop and each day the carrier brings in rural route boxes to be painted white with the name of the patron in black.

In a store window in Red Oak, Montgomery county, may be seen the well preserved skull of what is believed to have been a mastodon, a reminder of the huge animals that roamed what is now Iowa in the long ago.

Fred Jahnke of Malvern, discovered the skull while fishing about 2 miles north of Malvern a short time ago. His fish hook caught and in loosening it he found the interesting specimen.

It was imbedded in gravel 16 feet below the surface of the ground, in a part of the river which had been straightened.

The thing is so heavy that he had to get help to get it out. It weighs 127 pounds. Length of the skull was 37 inches; width nearly 27 inches; length of roof of the mouth was 26 inches.

Marriage: August 19, Dale Reynolds and Arlene Geiger.

Births: August 10, a daughter to Mr. and Mrs. Jerry England…August 14, a son to Mr. and Mrs. Alex Saltzman…August 17, a son to Mr. and Mrs. Loren Munyon, and August 13, a daughter to Mr. and Mrs. Lester Holcomb.

Obituaries in this edition were: Cora E. Lesan Mosier…Charles J. Nash…Kenneth Turner Saltzman (infant)…Samuel Roberson…Paul Ernest Geringer…Salathiel V. Graves.

(From the Mount Ayr Record-News,Thursday, August 25, 1949.)

Contest to recognize most courteous public worker in Mount Ayr. Everyone is eligible to vote to help determine the most courteous person. Contest is sponsored by  business and professional women of Mount Ayr.

Glen Eco on highway 169 at east edge of Mount Ayr was sold the first of the week to Earl Roudybush, a farmer residing east of Mount Ayr. Immediate possession was given.

Glen Echo was constructed and operated for the past 2 years by the Glen Skinner family. (Glen Echo was a dance hall).

Algie Link won a trip to the Waterloo Dairy Cattle Congress as the results of his outstanding dairy project work. This award was made during the Ringgold Count Fair by the the Ringgold County Fair Association.

An unusual accident happened the first of the week on a county road when the body of a 1948 model Ford was crushed under the weight and power of a caterpillar tractor.

The car, registered in the name of Mark Forbes, of Cedar Rapids, a road construction engineer, was parked at the side of the road when the caterpillar operator, who did not observe the car, drove his heavy machine up the slanting rear end of the car and on to the top. No one was in the car at the time of the accident.

Marriage: August 11, Alma Green and Dean Norris.

Birth: August 21, a son to Mr. and Mrs. Pearl Barker.

Obituaries in this edition were: Guy Tedrow, Joseph W. Stevenson, Joseph L. Irving and infant David Munyon.

(From the Mount Ayr Record-News,Thursday,  August 29, 1974.)

Mrs. Kenneth Hunt (Cherri) will be the new part time public health nurse in Ringgold County. She will be cooperating with Mrs. Raymond (Glenna) Eggert of Clearfield in carrying out the duties of the office.

Enrollment in the Mount Ayr community school district showed another decline in 1974, according to figures complied in the office of Don Gilkerson, superintendent. Unofficial enrollment figures show a total of 855 students in school, a drop of 34 from last years total of 889.

Mount Ayr will welcome a new industry come Friday. That’s when operations will start for a metal processing company which is being moved here from Gillman, IA.

Rex Galloway, a partner in Green Hills Inc, of Mount Ayr, and Dan Roberts of Eddyville, will own the new operation. Present plans call for incorporating the business under the name of Mid America Inc.

Marriage: July 20, Steve Trullinger and Gail Noftsger…August 17, Barbara Terry and Tom Lane.

Births: August 3, twin girls to Mr. and Mrs. Lyle Faris…August 25, a daughter, Stephanie, to Mr. and Mrs. David Umbarger.

Obituaries in this edition were: Goldia Luceal Harmond Woods and Eleanor Bernice Franklin Ferry.

(From the Mount Ayr Record-News,Thursday, August 19, 1999.)

A $10,000 grant will help with the city of Kellerton and the community group heading up the project in its conversion of the school gymnasium building over from the Grand Valley school district into a community center.

New Mount Ayr community principal is Tyler Williams, who comes to Mount Ayr after serving as the middle school principal at Earlham last year. Williams brings 10 years of experience as a 4th grade teacher to his new position at Mount Ayr community school district.

The son of a Mount Ayr resident recently has been named an assistant curator at the Peabody Museum in Boston, MA. Jeff Carr, son of Sherry Poole of Fonda and Tom Carr of Mount Ayr, has recently been named to the position.

Obituaries in this edition were: Faith Elizabeth Ewing, Pat F. Carr, Jennie Marie Garity Chapman, Millicent Ann Wells Knight and Mary Helen Barbour Long.

(From the Mount Ayr Record-News,Thursday, August 21, 2014.)

Elsie Schafer of Mount Ayr represented Ringgold County well at the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation’s state BBQ contest at the Iowa State Fair on August 12. Schafer competed in the poultry division, youth division and showmanship and brought home second place in both the poultry and youth category.

The Link family of Mount Ayr accepted the Century Farm Award this year at the Iowa State Fair August 12. The Link farm, located just north of Mount Ayr off of Hwy 169, was purchased in 1914 by Jacob and Sara Etta Link. It was passed down to son John and Rosetta Link and then passed to Algie and Loraine Link. Living on the farm now is Algie and Loraine’s son, Denis Link.

Births: August 10, a son, Presley, to Mr. and Mrs. Rick Stark…August 13 a son, Jackson, to Mr. and Mrs. Jeff Doolittle.