Looking Back
News from Bertha's Past
25 Years Ago
March 8, 1995
“Every time I drove through Hewitt, I saw that vacant elevator. I didn’t see why it couldn’t be reopened,” said Dave Stilwell. “Right on 210 and just off of U.S. Highway 71. No need to worry about road restriction. In the middle of good dairy country. The location was perfect.” The Hewitt elevator had been closed about four years. Former owner Bill Tolbers had fallen and broken his hip. Although Tolbers recovered from his injury, he decided to retire. Stilwell and his wife, Nan, purchased and took possession of the elevator complex on November 28, 1994. They named the new business Sunshine Elevator and Feed.
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The Independent News Herald provided the Bertha-Hewitt third grade class with coloring books for Newspaper in Education Week. The coloring books are just one of the school activities provided by the newspaper to teach students about newspapers, and to promote newspaper readership.
75 Years Ago
March 8, 1945
Dr. Lillian Olson, daughter of Mr. C.H. Olson of Bertha, held as a prisoner of the Japanese in the Philippine Islands, since December 1941, has been freed from Los Banos, where she was held captive. The notice received by Mr. Olson from the War Department, “Official report received announces rescue by our forces of your daughter, Lillian H. Olson, formerly interned at Los Banos. Physical condition not given.”
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The War Department has announced an award of Distinguished Unit Citation for extraordinary gallantry in combat to the Second Platoon Co., 899th Tank Destroyer Battalion. One if its members is Sgt. Dennis Johnson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Johnson. The citation read “For extraordinary gallantry of actions during which they destroyed enemy guns blocking the advance to Cherbourd and Greville.”