Dusting off the Archives
News from Verndale's Past
75 Years Ago, April 24, 1947
•The Vern Lepper residence was gutted by fire Monday morning of this week, destroying nearly all their furniture and all their clothing except that which they put on to make a harrowing escape. Mr. Lepper had gotten up early in the morning and started a three burner kerosene stove in the east kitchen part to heat water for the washing and then went back to bed. About an hour or more after he had gone back to bed they were aroused by smoke and Mr. and Mrs. Lepper and Jim who were all upstairs barely had time to escape. The fire is thought to have started from the kerosene stove exploding.
• Wm. (Sharkey) Payne, the new owner of the Verndale Theatre had workmen begin work on his building Wednesday of the week to remodel it into an exclusive theatre for Verndale. The preliminary work in the building will consist of raising and dropping the floor for a slope of three feet from back to from, installing washrooms for men and ladies, fixing up the canopy outside, etc. The theatre will be closed for shows for approximately three or four weeks.
•Mr. and Mrs. Verner Monson have carpenters working in their restaurant enlarging their kitchen and putting in washrooms.
40 Years Ago, April 29, 1982
•A new business in Verndale will be holding a grand opening this weekend just prior to the observance of Small Business Week from May 9-15. It’s Robert Miller Lures, located in the former Neuerburg Electric Building across from McNair Park. Mr. Miller extends an invitation to everyone, especially fishermen, to come in and get acquainted. He challenges them to bring in their favorite lures to test against his “Huslure” which, he said, is unique for its action.
• “Guess who’s 50 [your own postmaster]” was the sign which greeted all post office patrons last Friday. Postmaster Duane Davis, who is also Verndale’s Fire Chief, is shown being serenaded by fire sirens early Friday when firemen drove all Verndale’s vehicles to the post office, sounding sirens as a salute to their chief.
• Hear Me Roar! was the theme of this year’s State FHA convention attended by Carol Derby and five FHA’ers from Verndale, Danelle Colby, Margaret Runyan, Denyce Stone, Can Nelson and Cathy Colby, the latter holding certificates received from the Action Activity Event “Space Unknown, Make Your Own” which received a star rating. The goal for this year’s convention was to give each member the courage to stand up and roar-helps on how to handle peer pressure.
15 Years Ago, April 25, 2007
•About eight years ago, Deb Erickson of Verndale was sick, but the doctors could not figure out what was wrong with her. After noticing a burning sensation on her side, the sensation spread, and eventually, she felt it throughout her entire body. The doctors removed her gallbladder, which later was discovered that it really did not need to be removed. The doctors also thought maybe she had cancer but this was not the case. Deb went to a naturopathic doctor in Alexandria where she was informed her body was full of toxins, Candida and had several allergies.
• The Verndale Pirates girls softball team had a busy week playing six games in all. To start the week, the team traveled to Sebeka and pulled out a 5-4 win. Nicki Bart was the winning pitcher. Leading hitters were Megan Van Roekel 2-4, Jackie Finck 2-4, Alexia Christianson 2-4, and Nicki Bart 2-4.
•Brittani Groshong, Jessica Sly, Alicia Johnson and Jessie Grossinger received a superior rating at the band solo/ensemble contest for their clarinet quartet.