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Looking Backward 6.20.2013

  25 Years Ago

June 16, 1988

 

The Ava R-1 School Board met in special session last Friday afternoon.  The resignation of fourth grade teacher Sybil Gheer was accepted by the board then the directors voted to offer a contract to Donna Sherman to fill the elementary vacancy. Also hired was Mary Shrable, as parent teacher educator, and Pauline Brooke, as custodian and high school cafeteria.

Western District Commissioner Kenneth Adams said a total of five windows were broken out of three machines which were parked at a construction site in the Crossroads community in the west end of the county.  Two graders and a loader were damaged.

Bill Roark, president of the Missouri Fox Trotting Horse Breed Association, conducted the opening session at the Youth Seminar here last Thursday morning in conjunction with the spring show of the MFTHBA.

Zane Gray sank a hole-in-one at the Ava Country Club golf course last Sunday afternoon. Gray hit the ace on the No. 7 green using a 9 iron. He was playing with Kevin Hodges, Keith Jenkins and Wayne Garrett, who witnessed the shot.

Lawrence Barnes, Ava, was run down by his own pickup in a freak accident just before noon Tuesday on the Ava square. Barnes suffered lacerations and a broken hand, along with lots of bruises and abrasions.

MT. TABOR –– Mrs. Helen Dobbins and Mrs. Pauline Jenkins visited Saturday afternoon at Fordland with their aunt, Mrs. Leora Uchtman.

HERCULES –– What a wonderful Monday morning this is, but we are needing rain badly. Pastures are getting in very bad shape as well as gardens and hay fields.

50 Years Ago

June 13, 1963

 

Dairy Day Celebration Tuesday in Ava to honor county milk industry with Maid of Milk contest, parade and musical program.

Plans are progressing toward the construction of a bridge over the White River at Calico Rock, Ark., to eliminate the block of Highway 5 in that area.  Ava civic groups have made several trips to Calico Rock and Little Rock to encourage construction of the bridge.

The partnership interest of Claud E. Gaulding in the Owens & Gaulding Service Station, located five blocks north of the square on City Route 5 and 14, has been purchased by Russell J. Lathrop of Ava. The station, which stays open 24 hours a day, is now known as Owens & Lathrop Service Station.

Dewey Bilyeu, principal of the Ava elementary school for the past seven years, tendered his resignation to the board o education last Thursday night.  Bilyeu, who was married two weeks ago, has accepted a position with the State Department of Education as area supervisor in the trainable children program.

Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Sellers of Olathe, Kan., announce the birth of a daughter at 1:30 Monday morning, June 3.  The baby weighed 7 pounds, 9 o9unces at the time of her birth and has been named Laura Elizabeth.

James W. and Inez Davis celebrated their golden wedding anniversary Sunday, June 9.

About 25 photographers from a camera club in Joplin came to Ava a week ago Sunday and went over the Glade Top Trail and on to Rockbridge and Hodgson’s Mill on a shutter-snapping outing.

There is a good chance that the Missouri Conservation Commis­sion will stock upper Bryant with four-to-eight-inch trout within the next couple of weeks. However, anglers would do well to turn these small ones back and save them for next year.

William Wesley Emerson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Dwight Emerson was one of 186 graduating from the Junior College of Kansas City during commencement exercises held at Municipal Auditorium on Thursday evening, June 6.  Young Emerson, a 1960 graduate of Ava High School, received an associate in arts degree.

THE SNOOP with Bob Bowles- More information on one-time Negro residents of Douglas County, this from C. Frantz Mercer:  “There was a family of Negroes that lived in the east end of Douglas County when I attended Douglas County Normal, an institution put on the educational map by my father, Prof. J.S. Mercer.  This Negro was most frequently spoken of as “Old Nigger Henry.”  He occasionally hauled lumber into Ava. He was a good citizen and was known as a man of his word.  Al Dobyns and I were in high school together. He may remember Mr. Henry. I moved away from Ava in 1905.”

MURRAY –– Mr. and Mrs. Wayne McCullough are moving to the Joe Dobbins place.

 

75 Years Ago

June 16, 1938

 

Bobby Ray, 8-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Lee of Dogwood, was brought to Ava Saturday afternoon to local physicians after being bitten three times by a copperhead snake. Bobby had gone to the henhouse Saturday morning while assisting with the farm work and encountered the snake. Before he could escape the snake bit him three times on the top of the foot.  Mr. and Mrs. Lee brought their son to Ava again Monday for treatment. Attending physicians say he is recovering nicely.

More than 1,100 enthusiastic women attended the showing of “Star in My Kitchen” last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, sponsored by the Herald at the New Wilson Theater and presented through the cooperation of a number of Ava merchants.

Two hundred and thirty-seven chocolate ice cream sodas were consumed at the Norman-Gentry drug store fountain Friday afternoon in the three-hour period from 3 o’clock to 6. The unusually hearvy “sody” business resulted from coupons distributed Friday in connection with the motion picture cooking school at the New Wilson Theatre. The coupons made it possible to buy a 10 cent soda for a nickel.

Upon Oral Atteberry the Douglas County Herald sporting department, consisting of all the force from the editor to Fred, the printer’s devil, confers the honorable title of Kingfish.  Oral Tuesday afternoon reported catching the biggest bass heard of in Ava so far this season. It measured twenty inches long and after Oral got into Ava with it it weighed four and a half pounds. He made the catch in Bryant Creek. His catch for the day included seven others.

Mrs. Jesse Garrett entertained a group of friends in her home Monday afternoon in compliment to Mrs. Pete Maxey, a recent bride.

Joseph R. Ridenour of Sweden and Miss Ruby Pursley of Seymour were married Tuesday evening in a ceremony at the home of Justice of the Peace W. M. Person of Sweden, who officiated.

It’s bad enough to be sick and have to go to the hospital, but it’s worse still for a boy to have to go to the hospital and then have a suit of clothes stolen on top of that.  Jimmie Norman, 7-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. E.R. Norman, is in Springfield Baptist Hospital this week with an ear infection that followed an attack of tonsilitis. Mr. and Mrs. Norman took the suit to the hospital so that Jimmie might wear it home when he gets well. But a thief sneaked up to the car parked at the rear of the hospital, and stole the suit. Jimmie hopes to come home in a few days.

Commercial Courses to be offered starting Monday, June 20.  Typing, Shorthand, Commercial law and Bookkeeping.  Tuition: one course, 8 weeks, $5; two courses, 8 weeks, $9.  Typewriter rental, $1 per month.  Payable in advance.  Ray Nall, Commercial Dept., Ava High School.

 

100 Years Ago

June 26, 1913

 

Farming conditions throughout three-fourths of Missouri are becoming somewhat serious because of lack of rain. Nothing is to be gained by denying this fact. It is a coward who whistles as he goes along through a graveyard at dead of night.  The Missouri farmer is no coward. Nor is he an ostrich, burying his head in the sand and seeking in this stupid way to escape danger.

The Bryant Mining Company consisting of Graham Wallace, E. A. Hunsaker, Geo. Treet and E.B. Lefler have recently been the means of bringing to the front some of the great resources of this country.  They have been faithfully in their efforts to get the mineral value of this country into notice and are now about to become successful in their efforts.  At the end, if developments prove good, the Co. are to receive $20,000.00 for their holdings.

As the warm weather is here again and there are many things to be done and looked after to secure better sanitary condition of our city, the Sanitary Committee appointed by the Mayor of the City of Ava, desires to call your attention to Sections 3,4 and 11, Ordinance 5 of the Ordinances and Laws of our town.   Sec. 3.  All privies within the corporate limits of the city belonging to any residence, factory, store, mill or warehouse or any other privy, whether public or private, shall be kept clean and in such condition as not to be offensive to persons in the immediate vicinity and shall be so enclosed as to prevent the indecent exposure of the contents thereof.

GIRDNER JOTTINGS –– Blackberries now on the market are not as good as last year on account of dry weather.

There will be a special term of county court in Ava next Friday. The main object of the action will be to consider a bridge proposition across Beaver at Rome.

L.L. Lee of Oklahoma and associates, have leased a 40-acre tract of land in Ozark County and will spend several hundred dollars in opening up one of the best mineral prospects in this country. Mr. Lee is an experienced miner. He left Ava last week with a large supply of explosives, drills, and several men and expect to begin work immediately. The prospect is located about 10 miles southwest of Thornfield.

PANSY ITEMS –– Born to Mr. and Mrs. G.W. Applegeet, a fine baby girl, all concerned are doing nicely.

Take plenty of time to eat –– there is a saying that “rapid eating is slow suicide”.

 

125 Years Ago

June 28, 1888

 

The symbol of the Republican Party is the American Eagle, and Republicans march under the glorious stars and stripes. The Democracy has a dirty bird that befouls its own next to lead the way, and marches under a red snuff rag and the ensigh of England’s thralldom. Please God, we’ll never have another campaign in this country with a party abusing the name of Democracy by marching under the hated British Union Jack that Washington and Jackson drove out of this country. One such exhibition will be enough for the American people.

The “hard” coal men have advanced the price of their product 25¢ a ton and reduced the wages of their workmen 10 percent.

Riaz Pasha, the new prime minister of Egypt, is a Mohammedan. His predecessor, Nubar Pasha, was an Armenian Christian.

Mrs. Mary Mapes Dodge, now slightly past middle age, is still youthful in appearance and spirits. Her “Hans Brinker” is almost as popular in England as in this country, and furnishes a material part of her income.

The case of the watch formerly belonging to Louis Napoleon, Prince Imperial, who was killed in South Africa, has been sent to London. It is slightly battered. It bears the young Prince’s monogram and crest. The watch was given him by his mother, ex-Empress Eugenie. An Englishman recently purchased it of a Zulu.

Third class immigrant rates west of the Missouri River have been abolished by the transcontinental railroads. This makes the rate from the Missouri River to the Pacific coast point $35, instead of $30 as heretofore.

Jeff Earp, of Carrollton, Mo., a well-known schoolteacher, and a young man named Heath had a shooting scrape in which both parties were badly wounded. The only particulars obtainable were that Earp was shot in the neck and back and that Heath was expected to die.

The announcement of Isaac Kester will be found in this issue. Mr. K. is a candidate for Collector, subject to the republican primaries. He is well known to the people of the county, and needs no comment from us. If elected, he will undoubtedly make a good officer.

Frank Hayes has been suffering from a severe attack of bilious fever.

A dog belonging to John Payne was killed this morning. It was thought to have hydrophobia.

Col. Watts and daughter, J.H. Martin and family, E.D. tingle and M.C. Reynolds and wife represented Ava at the Pilot Knob celebration yester.

Martin Singleton has had a well drilled this week, getting water at 33 feet.

Mrs. W. s. Moore and son, and Miss Welch of St. Louis, and Mrs. D.W. Thomas, of Kansas City, are visiting at G.B. Waters.