‘Years Ago’ is a compilation of newsy tidbits as published in the Crawford County Independent & Kickapoo Scout on this week ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty or sixty years ago.
TEN YEARS AGO
MAY 6, 2010 – Hundreds of people circulated through the 18 open house events last Saturday at the village-wide open house in Gays Mills. Local resident Jay Haggerty showed up on his recumbent trike, while Jesse Downs and Kathy Casper performed on the sidewalk outside the Independent-Scout office… Roxie Riley of Soldiers Grove was the winner of the Henry .22 at the Gays Mills Sportsmen’s Club Banquet last Saturday… Recently, the newly formed Cub Scouts from the North Crawford and Kickapoo School Districts participated in their first Pinewood Derby in Soldiers Grove. The group included: Skyler Olson, Johnny O’Dell, Ty Heyden, Grady Stovey, Jack Koch, Adam Robinson, Quentin Lathrop, Jayden O’Dell, Phillip Ott, Thomas Turben, Gavin Forkash, Cole Updike, Evan Welsh, Logan Turgasen, Nathan Zibrowski and Alex Cordero.
TWENTY YEARS AGO
MAY 4, 2000 – M’Lou Wilkie, rural Soldiers Grove, is headed for the wetland region on the Russian-Chinese border to teach art to a group of Russian children at a summer camp aimed at crane preservation. Wilke will join 15 other Wisconsin teachers planning to make the trip…. 112 friends and members of the family of Ramona Walsh, a mother of nine who died eight years ago of breast cancer, took part in a walk/run to raise funds for the American Cancer Society. The family has decided to make an annual fundraising effort in Ramona’s memory… Brita Bodenstein was re-elected as the President of the North Crawford School Board.
THIRTY YEARS AGO
MAY 10, 1990 – The newest piece of glass art by Denis and Janine Daniels was unveiled Sunday at a reception at the Old Oak Inn at Soldiers Grove. The piece, a 9.5-foot x 3.5-foot etched glass mirror, which hangs in the Acorn Lounge, depicts a leisurely Sunday afternoon tea on the lawn of the Inn soon after it was built in 1902. Although the setting of the etching appears to be 100 years ago, the people belong to the 1990s; faces of 23 of the area’s citizens are incorporated into the etching. The etching process gives the piece an ethereal quality, as though at this place, for these few moments, the centuries overlap and we stand in two times at once.
FORTY YEARS AGO
MAY 8, 1980 – When Paul Thompson had an emergency hernia operation on April 27 he feared that he was going to be late for planting oats and other spring work. However many good neighbors showed up on Thursday to help with fieldwork. The group included: Lynn Steinbach, Merlin Dregne, Richard Crogan, Joe Boland, Bill Boland, Raymond Aspenson, Albert Iverson, David Crogan, Kenny Crogan, Jeff Pippenger, David Becwar, Doug Grimsled, Tom Herreid and Lawrence Becwar…
FIFTY YEARS AGO
MAY 6, 1970 – A midget Jersey calf on the Charles Smith farm west of Mt. Zion weighed only 15 pounds at birth, as compared to 40 to 50 pounds for a normal calf of that breed… Foster W. Smith, 42, Eastman, was stabbed to death at about 8 p.m. Monday outside a tavern in that village. Clarence G. Storlie, 53, rural Eastman, was formally charged with first-degree murder in connection with Smith’s death… Alvin Olson of the Star Valley area received serious chest injuries when the tractor he was driving went over an embankment on County B two miles east of Star Valley. The mishap occurred when Olson was driving the tractor to Soldiers Grove for repairs.
SIXTY YEARS AGO
MAY 5, 1960 – April 30 marked the end of one era in Steuben and the beginning of another when a new cooperative association, the Steuben Cooperative Cheese Factory, assumed ownership and operation of the Steuben cheese factory formerly owned by Harold Scallon, Steuben. The organizing committee consisted of Ronald Ward, Harlan Bay, Stanley Stankus, Paul Trautsch and Lawrence Bay, all Steuben-area farmers. Present plans provide for immediate plant improvement to meet state and federal inspection recommendations. Calvin Foley, Boscobel, will continue as cheesemaker.
