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Snapshots of History: Redding Depot

By Mike Avitt This week’s picture shows the Chicago Burlington & Quincy depot looking north. In the background to the right, a couple of houses can be seen and those houses are in the original town of Redding. I also find it very interesting that the railroad put the depot between Old Redding and New…

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Looking Back December 28, 2023

One Hundred Years Ago (From the Mount Ayr Record-News, Thursday, January 2, 1924.) George L. Bastow, who during the summer and fall has had a force of men at work remodeling the old Mount Ayr house, announces that the new hotel, which will be known as Hotel Mount Ayr, will be formally opened Thursday evening…

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Shea Lynn Woollums

Shea Lynn Woollums was born on July 24, 1980, at the Decatur County Hospital in Leon, Iowa to parents Garey Lynn Woollums and Sheila Lynn (Vanderflute) Nauman. Shea welcomed into the family brother Travis Lee in 1982 and sister Kelly Jo in 1984.  Shea departed this life much too soon – at the early age…

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Donella Mae Taylor Jackson Johnson

A wonderful life can be defined in many ways. For Donella Mae Taylor Jackson Johnson, it was the relationships with her family, friends, and the many students she taught in school. She lived a life knowing that love has no end and that God loves every child in God’s world. She passed away on December…

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Betty Lou (Johnston) Cole

Betty Lou (Johnston) Cole, daughter of Darrell and Lena (Main) Johnston, was born February 4th, 1925, in Mount Ayr, Iowa. Betty graduated from Mount Ayr High School in 1942. She was united in marriage to Keith Cole on November 28, 1948, in Grant City, Missouri. They were blessed with three children, Betty Jane, Dick and…

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Shaha 113 lb. champ at POI meet

Shaha 113 lb. champ at POI meet The Mount Ayr boy’s wrestling team traveled to Corning and SW Valley High school last Friday for the annual Pride of Iowa COnference meet. There, the Raiders collected one individual champion in Brock Shaha at the 113-pound weight class. The Raiders as a team placed ninth at the…

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Mount Ayr wins dual against East Union

The Mount Ayr wrestling team picked up a big dual win over POI foe East Union last week in a quadrangular meet with the Eagles, Nodaway Valley, and Wayne. There, the Raiders were 1-2 in three duals. The Raiders beat the East Union Eagles by a score of 30-24 and won five matches in the…

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Raiders win back-to-back home games

The Mount Ayr Raider boy’s basketball team earned two victories late last week to improve to 5-2 in their first seven games. The Raiders beat SE Warren 67-51 on Thursday, December 14, and added a 54-44 win over Worth County Missouri the next night on December 15. The Raiders have one more game this month,…

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Raiderettes improve to 6-2 with wins on back-to-back nights

The Mount Ayr Raiderettes improved to 6-2 in eight games with wins in back-to-back nights last week against POI foe SE Warren and non-conference foe Worth County Missouri. The Raiderettes will travel to Greenfield on Tuesday, December 19 to face the No. 5 team in Class 2A, Nodaway Valley Wolverines in their last game before…

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Snapshots of History

This week’s picture comes from a postcard with a caption that reads, “4069A Christian Church, Ellston, Iowa.” My experience with these types of postcards tells me this card is from the years 1910-1912. We can clearly see a house to the left of the church. The Evangelical Church in Wirt (Wirt became Ellston on January…

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