LOOKING BACK in the Early Files

Two buildings in Benton were destroyed by fire of unknown origin Monday night. The fire was first discovered in the building occupied by Glen Hall’s restaurant and had gained such headway that the flames could not be checked until adjoining building owned by C.B. Dinkel was consumed. The contents of he restaurant burned, but household goods stored in the Dinkel building were saved.

The foundation of the tablet marking the grave of Willson Alexander Scott on a little knoll southeast of the state house on the capitol extension grounds has been completed, and the tablet will be laid with appropriate ceremonies within a few days. Scott was the first white man to reach the present site of Des Moines. He preceded the soldiery. When the capitol was removed here from Iowa City in 1857, he donated ten acres from a site on the present Capitol Hill, built the building and rented it to the state. Standing one day on the hill, he voiced a wish to be buried there. Later when he died on Pikes Peak in 1859, while trying to recoup a lost fortune, friends granted the wish, but the grave has been unmarked for half a century.

Obituaries in this edition were: Eva Marie Marter and Elizabeth Rebekah German Lewis.

Farm Bureau members, in the business session of the annual meeting Friday night, voted 62-50 against the proposal to increase the annual membership dues from $10 to $15.

Elmer Bolinger, who last week resigned his position with the Timby Motor Company after a three year period of service, began work Monday at the D & B Firestone store in Mount Ayr.

An outdoor fireplace, purchased by the local Business Professional Women’s club, has been placed recently in the Depot park for the convenience of the public. The all metal fireplace, set in a brick framework, has an oven which may be used for baking purposes. The labor on installing the fireplace was done by Frelo Stringham.

Birth: October 16, a son, Harold, to Mr. and Mrs. Bill Crawford.. October 24, a son to Mr. and Mrs. Howard Brace.. October 21, a daughter, Vicki, to Mr. and Mrs. Richard Prentis.. October 17, a son, James, to Mr. and Mrs. Vincent Dukes.

Obituaries in this edition were: Mona Isabelle Keenan Ogle, George Benjamin Miller, Lucy Serena Tedrow Downer.

Mrs. Max Anderson was elected president of the Rose Hill Cemetery Association at it’s meeting held October 14.

Cecil Creech is Mount Ayr’s new policeman. He was hired for part-time work by the Mount Ayr City council during their October 15 meeting. Creech who began work last week will assist chief of police, Roger Grune.

Mr. and Mrs. Rex Sickels, Mrs. Lorene Morgan and Mrs. Birdie Glendenning have returned from a trip to Colorado where they visited relatives in Loveland, Greeley, and Denver. Mrs. Sickels spent a week with Mr. and Mrs. R.E. Mosier of Denver and a week at Littleton, CO. with Mr. and Mrs. Clifford Mosier while Mr. Sickels went elk hunting.

Marriage: August 31, Saundra Nurnberg and Richard Hornery.

Births: October 15, a son, to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Welch.. October 17, a son, to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Wilson.. October 19, a daughter to Mr. and Mrs. Larry Hartley.. October 8, a daughter, Jessica, to Mr. and Mrs. Alan Wilson.

Obituaries in this edition were: Clyde Forest Corll, Amos M. St. Clair, Harold Frederic Clough.

Neighbors gathered to help Marlin and Minnie Ricker of Diagonal with the harvesting this year. With four combines and many trucks, the harvest was over quickly.

Helping with the harvest were Kenny and Lowell Schaefer, Dave and Ivan Sobotka, Chuck and Wally Sobotka, Clair Newton, Lawrence Rychnovsky, Bob Schaefer, Mary Crombaugh and Jerry Stephens.

Furnishing fuel were Stephens Land Construction, Lowell Schaefer Farm Seed, Sur-Gro, Diagonal Building Products, Taylor Fiberglass and Schlapia, Inc.

Three Mount Ayr students have recently received honors dealing with the All-State Music Festival to be held in Ames in November. At the selections held in Atlantic Saturday, Clara Terrell was named to the all-state band playing oboe. Landi McFarland was selected as first alternate on the tenor saxophone and Ashley Ingram was chosen to sing with the all-state OPUS choir of middle school students.

Obituaries in this edition were: Theola M. Bear Barbour, Marcella Pauline Brown Briner, Buddy Lee Cole, Helen Naoma Lien Hoover, Jewell Lorraine Whited Rinehart, and John William Shafer.

A public hearing was held Monday October 26 to consider the discontinuance of Delphos as an incorporated city, but during the hearing city officials decided not to pursue unincorporating at this time.

Seth Kotouc, 34, a 1999 Mount Ayr Community high school graduate was severely injured in Afghanistan in 2012 as part of his deployment with the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team. Today, as they rebuild their lives three years later, he and his wife Laura hope to raise $5,000 to go towards a new wheel chair accessible home they are building.

Mount Ayr benefactor Paul Ramsey dead at 92.

Imagine for a moment that you have led an extremely successful life, earning a fortune and a bit of fame and have been blessed with a good family and a multitude of friends.

Now imagine that the time has come to retire and live out the rest of your life as you desire, free from the burden of work, your children grown and living their own lives. How would you choose to spend your retirement? Do you see yourself on the deck of a cruise ship, perhaps reminiscing about your glory days?

Paul Ramsey, a Des Moines native turned Hollywood real estate broker, found himself considering this very option, but decided that this prospect was “about as interesting as watching paint dry.” Instead of spending his fortune on entertainment and unnecessary luxuries, Ramsey got a philanthropic itch to put that money to good use for the good of others in the place he had called home for six summers of his childhood ~ Mount Ayr.

Obituaries in this edition were: Sheridan Lloyd Miller, Paul Allen Ramsey, Rosalie Shay McFarland.