25 Years Ago — June 5, 1991
The Allegan County Board of Co
mmissioners has 30 days to appoint a temporary successor to the late Ralph Sytsma of Leighton Township to seat on the board. Elections will be held to fill the seat on Aug. 13 and Oct. 1. Meanwhile, Vernon Sill has been named chairman po tempore. Sytsma, who was board chairman for the past four years, died in May.
The Wayland Township Board agreed to work orders for the paving of 7th Street north from 135th Avenue to the Leighton Township line. The township’s share of the cost will be about $22,000.
Annual school elections for Wayland, Hopkins and Martin will be held Monday, June 10. All school board races are expected to be lively.
Heikki Kallu, a foreign exchange student from the Soviet Union, will be guest speaker at the next meeting of the Wayland Lions Club. Kallu is living with the family of Doug Parrish, a Russian and German teacher at Howell High School. Parrish is the son of Claude and Virginia Smith of Wayland.
Scott Medendorp of Wayland was selected as the Allegan County Vo-Tech Center’s Student of the Year in the field of welding.
Wayne Vernon Haight, 52, formerly of Hilliards, has been determined to be responsible for the slaying of 13-year-old Rusty Schoonmaker of Orangeville Township. The lad’s body was found in January 1975, but the case went cold for more than a decade until Haight was arrested and charged.
Southpaw first sacker Aaron Whitley was named to the first unit of the all-conference baseball team, but the season for him and his Wildcat teammates ended with a 5-0 defeat at the hands of Plainwell in the district opener. Wayland finished with a 9-19 record overall.
Lady Wildcat Heather Staley walked nine batters and struck out seven in a nail-biting 1-0 no-hit victory over Plainwell in the district opener, but Wayland lost 8-6 to Comstock in the district finals.
The Lady Wildcats 1600-meter team of Shannon Kedde, Ann Iciek, Marcie Brown and Jenny Merren finished third in the state with a time of 4:08. Brenda Huff took sixth in the shot put at 37-0 and Julie Ainsworth cleared 5-2 to finish seventh in the high jump.
Third-ranked Bangor defeated 10th-rated Hopkins in the district semifinals to end the Lady Vikings’ most successful season to date with a 19-2 overall record.
The Hopkins baseball team took an anti-climactic 5-4 victory from Freedom Baptist to finish its season with a 15-5 record. Coach Markl Austin’s group has lost previously to Kelloggsville in the pre-districts.
Valedictorian for the Martin High School Class of 1991 was Angie Barnell and Kevin Zachman was salutatorian.
50 Years Ago — June 1, 1966
Employees at the Kessler’s Undies and Woolies plant in Wayland voted overwhelmingly, 161 to 37, not join the Amalgamated Clothing Works Union.
Wayland High School senior Dorothy Cook will return to study in Sweden after graduating June 2 and is not expected to return until August 1967. She and her family are saying good-bye to Swedish exchange student Annette Anderson. Meanwhile, John Cook, Dorothy’s brother, will spend the summer as an exchange student in Japan.
Hopkins High School graduated 67 seniors May 25. Jim Newell was named outstanding athlete and Sally Beaver won the Girls’ Leadership and Home Economics awards.
Thomas DeKraker was valedictorian and Ronald DeYoung salutatorian at the Moline Christian school commencement for eighth-graders.
Ken Howell, a trooper with the Michigan State Police, Wayland post, will teach a medical self-help course starting June 29.
Eighth-graders at Moline Community, Sproat and Corning took part in what may be among the last graduation exercises for the schools if the county’s reorganization plan is accepted.
The Rev. Dewey Moore will be guest speaker at the Wayland High School Alumni Association banquet June 4 at the high school cafeteria.
Don Christensen, son of Mr. and Mrs. William Christensen of Bradley, will represent the City of Springfield in a Mayor Exchange Day event in Utica.
The U.S.-131 drive-in theatre was showing Walt Disney’s classic “Old Yeller.”
Don Knotts was starring in “The Ghost and Mr. Chicken” at the Wayland Theatre.
The Class of 1916 was especially honored at the Wayland High School reunion, with about 130 in attendance.
Willis Riksen has been appointed supervisor at Monterey Township in the wake of the sudden death of Bernard Miller earlier in the spring.
The Wayland Grange was planning a special Memorial Service Friday evening, June 3.
The No. 1 song in the land this week was “When a Man Loves a Woman” by Percy Sledge.
75 Years Ago — June 6, 1941
John Stockdale of Allegan was toastmaster and Al Dobson of South haven main speaker at the Wayland High School alumni reunion, which reportedly welcomed new graduates to the event. C.D. Averill is president of the Alumni Association.
Margie Rumery, well known official with the Order of Eastern Star, died at home of heart attack after a siege of bronchitis and flu-like symptoms. She was 68.
Martin Amborski, 61, Hilliards farmer and section foreman for Michigan Central Railroad, died of a heart attack while working in Plainwell.
The assessed valuation in the Village of Wayland increased by more than $10,000 over the past year.
As of May of 1941, there were 323 company-owned telephones being used in the village for the Wayland exchange.
Editor-Publisher Rollo G. Mosher reported, “Wayland’s public safety campaign is producing results. Reckless driving, speeding and improper use of vehicles is quieting down. About 20 violators recently were apprehended and given sizable fines.”
The movies for the week at the Wayland Theatre: “Reaching for the Sun,” with Joel McCrea and Ellen Drew; “Men of Boys Town,” starring Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney; “Robbers of the Range,” with Tim Holt and Virginia Vale, and “The Saint in Palm Springs,” featuring George Sanders and Wendy Barrie.
100 Years Ago — June 2, 1916
It was estimated that about 2,000 people attended the Decoration Day ceremony at Elmwood Cemetery. Allegan won the annual county field day by scoring 39 points in the track competition. Otsego and Plainwell both had 38, Hopkins 11 and Wayland 7. There were reports, “On account of extreme heat, Wayland’s expectations in the distance runs did not materialize.”
The dedication of the new basement of the Methodist Episcopal Church was planned for 10 a.m. Sunday, with attorney E.W. Stone of Allegan giving a speech on “The Church and the Community.” The Leighton Male Quartet was scheduled to sing as well.
Miss Gladys Olson has decided to give up teaching at the Bradley school and return to Allegan.
Beginning the next Saturday and for every Saturday evening during the summer, the youth of the Methodist Church will serve ice cream, with proceeds to go for lighting and books at the church.
The Rev. J.M. Crandall, 75, a Civil War veteran, was guest speaker at the Bradley Methodist Church for Decoration Day. He is chaplain for the Three Rivers chapter of the Grand Army of the Republic.
Miss N. Adams has resigned as postmistress at Dorr and her successor is being sought.
“If Wayland Township expects to keep pace with the ‘Front Line Sunday Schools’ it will be necessary to attend county and state conventions and adopt the practical plans and methods.”
And effort is being made by Wayland boosters to have Wayland be host for the annual meeting of the Grand Rapids District of the Epworth League in 1917.
Hilliards native Tony Bellgraph has escaped from custody at the Jackson State Prison, where he was being incarcerated for burglary. A $100 reward is being offered for his capture.
Burglars visited four local business, including the stores of A.E. Weaver, Ellis Sigler, F.A. Burlington and L.R. Mason, netting about $15 in loot, plus jewelry.