Looking Back
News from Bertha's Past
25 Years Ago
March 15, 1995
Alex Weego, director of the Hewitt Revitalization Group, informed the Hewitt City Council that the HRG has been awarded a $10,000 Community Partners Program Grant from the Central Minnesota Initiative Fund.
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The Bertha-Hewitt speech team has had a successful first half of the season. Placing at Sebeka on February 18 were Scott Rice and David Hartman with their dramatic duo entry from “Death of a Salesman.” The following week at Staples, Scott earned a ribbon with his interpretation of Robert Frost’s poem “Home Burial.” On March 4 in Moorehead Scott Rice, David Hartman and Kim Nelson all earned ribbons.
75 Years Ago
March 15, 1945
For the second time in ten years, Bertha High School’s basketball team brought Todd County the championship of District 22, when the alert and hard-fighting team came through with a rousing victory over Long Prairie in the Glenwood gym 33-22.
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A long letter from Dr. Lillian Olson to her parents was printed in the Herald. It was written immediately after being released from the Japanese prisoner camp, Los Banos, in the Philippines. Dr. Olson was a medical missionary in China from 1936 and was taken prisoner while on a trip back to her home in the U.S. when war was declared in 1941 and was held prisoner for four years. Her letter opened with: “Psalm 124-it fit into the stories we heard last night when I read it. Yesterday we were quickly evacuated from Los Banos Camp by a rescue party which penetrated the Japanese line. Some of us feel only the prayers of all our loved ones and friends made it possible. About a week ago my restless heart was quieted instructing God to care for me whatever way things went.”