(Taken from the archives at the Then & Now Historical Library in downtown Dorr)
25 Years Ago — Dec. 26, 1994
Robin Nyenhuis, a paramedic with the Wayland Area Emergency Services (WAEMS) ambulance service, was the winner of the Penasee Globe’s fifth annual Reindeer Bucks contest, with a $1,000 prize. She may spent her booty at participating merchants B & K Discount, Peereboom’s Garden Center and Hummingbird Arts & Crafts and Antiques, Gun Lake.
Joanne Jones will continue to serve as Allegan County Administrator, at least for another year, after a 5-4 vote of the Allegan County Board of Commisssioners. The reason the vote was close was concerns about her lack of formal education.
Shannon Lee Heppe, 18, of Shelbyville, was killed in a traffic crash when her pickup truck swerved on black ice and struck a tree alongside Gregorville Road.
John Vogelzang was honored with a special plaque lauding his 24 years of service on the Allegan County Board of Commissioners. Vogelzang, of Holland, is retiring.
A $5,000 grant from the Steelcase Foundation will help launch a teen center in downtown Hopkins. Project coordinator Roz Nicholson indicated the local citizens’ group had applied for $20,000, but would pursue the center nonetheless.
Changing regulations regarding response times and standards may present new challenges for small ambulance service operations such as WAEMS, according to Allegan County Medical Control.
The restoration project for Henika Library has been stalled by the lack of bids for doing the work. Library Director Lynn Mandaville said contractors have been experiencing a busy season and a small potatoes project like Henika’s isn’t generating a lot of interest.
Martin had to forfeit six weight divisions in a 46-24 wrestling dual meet loss to Hopkins. Pins in the meet were recorded by Nick Schmitt, Russ Pavlak, Matt Noble and Don Bailey.
Hopkins trailed Fennville 47-32, but roared back in the fourth period to claim an astonishing 57-50 victory on the hardcourt. Super sophomore Tim Kisner scored 24 points and Ryan Rewa 12, as the Vikings improved their overall record to 4-0.
John Fearnow came off the bench to score 16 points, but Wayland’s basketball team lost 69-59 to Forest Hills Northern.
Jackie Merrill and Tracey Smith have been key performers in Martin’s 2-0 start in volleyball.
Ruchie Guerrant scored 36 points and hauled down 16 rebounds, as Martin registered its first varsity basketball win for the season, 70-62 over Saugatuck.
50 Years Ago — Dec. 24, 1969
Wayland High School grad Barry Brower, in his weekly “Vietnam Diary” column, wrote about the difficulties faced by the black market for such goodies as bar soap, American currency, Salem cigarettes, Tide detergent and fruit gum. He confessed, “We American servicemen play an important role in the success of the black market here.”
Arnold Adamczyk of Hopkins has been enrolled in the Airlines Personnel Training program in Minneapolis and will be a station agent with Delta Airlines there.
Spec.-4 Greg Gaulke is serving as a mechanic with the 56th Transporation Company in Vietnam.
In an editorial, Editor-Publisher Irvin P. Helmey asked the Wayland City Council to adopt an ordinance forbidding snowmobilers to use the Wayland High School baseball field. He wrote that they were using the pitcher’s mound as a launch point and he feared the damage to the field.
Now showing at the Wayland Theatre: Sean Connery and Janet Munroe in Disney’s “Darby O’Gill and the Little People.”
Both the Wayland High School varsity and junior varsity girls’ basketball teams and coaches Pat McKee and Mary Jane Miller Merren were honored at a banquet for going undefeated. The Globe published a photo of the jayvees, including Eleanor Grzesak, Pam Terpstra, Renee Niemchick, Carol Crawford, Alyce Hanson, Florence Gruis, LouAnn Nakken, Vicki Mauchmar, Lydia Wright, Patty Slomski and Brenda Schurkamp.
The Wayland High School varsity basketball team is unbeaten in five games thus far this season after besting Jenison 65-61. Don Klein netted 22 points, Jim Ritsema added 17, Mark Schipper 15 and Boyd Heckert 10.
Brent Irwin is undefeated with a 6-0 record for the wrestling team in the 107-pound weight class. The Wildcats, under first-year coach Rick Tokarchick, are 3-2 in dual meets.
The Kessler’s management team held a Christmas Party at the Cascade Country Club in southeast Grand Rapids.
Mike Gensler of Dorr, a World War I veteran, died. He was 72.
Diana Ross & The Supremes took over the No. 1 slot among the nation’s top tunes with “Someday We’ll Be Together.”
75 Years Ago — Dec. 29, 1944
Editor-Publisher Rollo G. Mosher penned, “Monday is New Year’s Day. Then the next thing to take our minds off the double holiday will be the tax man. Blessed be nothing at tax time.”
John Hupp has been busy night and day trying to get a thick coating of ice on the Village Park skating rink.
The East Bradley Extension Group women entertained their husbands with a chicken dinner Dec. 21.
Longtime local resident Mrs. Robert Williamson died after a lingering illness.
Sgt. Halden Hudson of Wayland has reported he has been living, eating, sleeping in a foxhole in Palau until recently. He said he and his fellow soldiers ate salmon and hash for Thanksgiving. Sgt. Hudson said 27 issues of the Globe arrived all at the same time and he and his buddies read them all hungrily.
The Wayland Ladies Library Club held a Christmas program featuring the music of Lois Crosley, LaVerna Hilbert, Michael Hilbert, Marilyn Kellogg, Hazel Overmire and Lillian Mauchmar at the Wayland High School music room.
Lt. Col. Leon Schuh has arrived from duty overseas in Africa and Italy. He suffered a broken hip in action and is recuperating in a hospital in Georgia. He said he expects to be laid up for six months.
The Wayland Theatre will be host for a special New Year’s Eve midnight Technicolor movie, “Stars on Parade,” featuring the “Busy Buddies,” and “Showboat Serenade.” Hors d’eouvres will be served. Cost is 50 cents.
Now showing at the Wayland Theatre:
- Fibber McGee & Molly in “Heavenly Days.”
- Lorna Gray and Peter Cookson in “The Girl Who Dared.”
- Dennis Day and Ann Shirley in “Music in Manhattan.”
- Katharine Hepburn Akim Tamaroff and Walter Huston in Pearl S. Buck’s “Dragon Seed.”