Dusting Off the Archives
News from Verndale's Past
75 Years Ago, April 19, 1945 • Verndale and community, like thousands of other communities and cities throughout this nation, and even foreign countries, was stunned with grief and shock last Thursday afternoon when the news of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s sudden death was flashed over the radio. His death came on April 12, in a simply furnished bedroom of his pine mountain cottage at Warm Springs, Georgia. The cause of his death was from a cerebral hemorrhage. • Brigadier General Oscar B Abbott, Camp Beale commander announces Private First Class Merle J, Knutson of Verndale is a member of the 749th Military Police battalion from this post that has been chosen by the Army to do the policing at the United Nations Peace Conference in San Fransisco. • Second Lieutenant Robert E. Gains, whose home is on Route 2, Verndale, has been cited by the 338th Infantry Regiment of the 85th “Custer” Division and awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge for actual participation in combat against the enemy on the Fifth Army Front in Italy.
40 Years Ago, April 17, 1980 • Firemen in the area would readily welcome April showers to cut down on the danger of grass fires. Three alarms were sounded in as many days last weekend. Saturday afternoon, a grass fire which ignited from rubbish being burned at the Jerome Hensley farm home, approximately 12 miles northeast of Verndale, resulted in burning of a 35 acre area. Sunday afternoon, a passerby on Highway 10 stopped at Aldrich to sound the alarm for help and returned to the scene of a fire to fight the spreading flames while awaiting the arrival of firefighters. Another call was from a resident on the Carl Hahn farm. They had been burning leaves while raking the yard, when it was discovered the fire got out of control. Flames burned within a foot and a half of a structure and burned a travel trailer. • The kick-off campaign to raise funds to finance a European trip for Joey Pilgrim, who has qualified to be a member of the Minnesota Cultural Exchange Wrestling Team, got off to an excellent start Tuesday morning when Joey was presented a check for $100 from the Verndale Camp of Royal Neighbors. • Seven out of eleven speech students placed at the District Speech Contest held last week. The students were commended for their fine work in this new program. Mary Ostrom, second in extemporaneous reading; Matt LeFebvre, second in creative expression; and Marcia Hines, seventh in original oratory will compete at the Regional Speech Contest in Wadena. Other participants were Nancy Fisher, alternate in humorous; Jim Davis, alternate in serious drama; Christine Meister, alternate in discussion; Merlin Horan, alternate in story telling; along with participants Jeff Mason, Ken Waisanen, Kent Horsager and Mike Hokanson. Advisors were Kimberly Falk and Hazel Vasecka.
15 Years Ago, April 21, 2005 • Tuesday was cold and wet, the kids were freezing, but they performed well. Coach Moore was pleased with the team’s performance at the Staples/Motley invitational meet. The boys 4x800 relay took first place. Tom and Dan Adamietz placed in their individual races as well. • The Best of the Class is a community service project that honors graduating seniors who have achieved academic excellence throughout their high school years. Although it is a nationwide program, locally it is sponsored by Alexandria Technical College, where approximately 200 of the area’s top students, nominated by their schools, were invited to attend. Verndale High School nominated those seniors with a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or above. They are Katie Johnson, Chelsa Beaver, Jackie Weise, Kayla Hackler, Tom Adamietz, Sami Seaton, Andy Bramer and Kara Trosen. • At a recent meeting of the Isaac H. Lyons Post 326 of Verndale, two of its members were given recognition denoting their 50 years of continuous membership in the American Legion. Shown receiving their awards from Post Commander Florian Schmidt were Duane Davis and Andrew Schmith.