From Our Files

• May 12, 1949

L.B. Wanless and B.W. Thomas purchased the Cowan Implement Co. from Lyle Gowan, who had operated the Allis-Chalmers implement store for three years. Wanless planned to occupy the house where the Gowan family resided. Gowan planned to take an indefinite vacation.

During an electric storm and heavy rain, lightning struck a large cottonwood tree just east of the H.J. Grotewohl home. Branches fell to the ground in flames, but the rain prevented further damage. The crash and flash were seen and heard all over town.

The Hartley Public Library closed its seventh year of service on March 31, 1949. A total of 13,708 books and 1,639 magazines were loaned during the preceding 12 months. The total number of registered borrowers for the preceding three years was 881.

• May 9, 1974

A truck to pick up wastepaper collected from throughout the Hartley area arrived and transported the newsprint to Hartland, Wis. for reprocessing. The paper had been stored in the basement of Hartley Drug. Members of the Hartley Kiwanis spearheaded the drive with the assistance of the Boy Scouts.

Dr. Cory Kruckenberg, of Excelsior, Minn., was scheduled to speak and show slides of Vietnam. He had been to Saigon twice to assist dental instructors there and became very interested in all that was going on in that part of the world.

Alan Erichsen, son of Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Erichsen, was advanced to the degree of Iowa Farmer at the Iowa FFA Leadership Conference. The Iowa Farmer degree was the highest conferred by the State FFA Association.

• May 13, 1999

The State Large Group Festival was an exciting event for the Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn choir. The 125-member ensemble received a Division I rating, the first in nearly a decade. The group, directed by Lori Looyenga, performed “Cantique” and “Then Will the Very Rocks Cry Out.”

A “Century Party” was held at Community Memorial Health Center to honor four residents who were centenarians. The honorees were Eleanor Bremer, age 104; Welthy Albright, age 103; and Dora Olhausen and Albert Roeder, both age 102.

Jeanne Marie Burns, an elementary science teacher at Kreft Elementary School in Council Bluffs, was recognized with a Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. The Everly High School graduate was one of four Iowans to receive the honor.

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