From Our Files

• Nov. 13, 1947

A good sized crowd attended the dismantling ceremony of the servicemen’s honor roll. Guests of honor were the next of kin of World War II dead. The honor roll had been erected on a site between the Hartley Dry Cleaners and the telephone building during the war. A dinner concluded the Armistice Day festivities.

The traveling section of the Hartley High School football team, managers, coaches and the school superintendent were treated to a dinner at the Legion Hall following the Armistice Day game with Sanborn. Hartley won the annual battle, 12-0, to conclude the season with an 8-1 record.

A snowstorm with winds of high velocity blanketed this area. Highway 18 was blocked for a while between Hartley and Sheldon, and many county roads remained blocked for several days. A good percentage of the corn crop still remained in the fields unpicked.

• Nov. 9, 1972

Nearly 900 persons went to the polls in Hartley to vote in the general election. Ingwer L. Hansen was elected to the Iowa House of Representatives. President Richard Nixon was re-elected by landslide proportions nationally, but otherwise voters’ choices did not follow party lines.

Ken Mergen was elected president of the Hartley Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors for the coming year. Walt Ronnfeldt was named vice president. Due to being elected to the Iowa Legislature, Ingwer Hansen resigned as Chamber secretary. No successor had been named.

Following Hartley’s 43-0 victory over Maurice-Orange City, many football fans gathered at the high school gym to honor the team and coaches. The Hawks finished the season with a 9-0 record. John Stoterau, who had seen every Hartley team in action but one over a span of 50 years, ranked the 1972 squad among the best ever.

• Nov. 13, 1997

Students, parents, school staff and other volunteers helped clear snow off the football field before Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn’s playoff game with Gehlen Catholic. Athletic Director Jim Thomas estimated that between 75 and 100 persons assisted with the removal effort. The field was in good condition for the game which the Hawks won, 3-0, on a field goal by Shane Koele.

A 17-member committee comprised of H-M-S School District patrons was formed to once again study space needs at the high school. The group was formed independently of the administration. School board members appointed to the committee were Sherry Rosenberg and Jean Snyder.

Kay Albert, of Hartley, was appointed to serve on the Iowa Farm Service Agency State Committee. Albert had been involved in agriculture most of her life, including serving as a USDA program assistant and chair of the O’Brien County FSA Committee.

From Our Files” is compiled by Sentinel-News sports editor/staff writer Mike Petersen.