(Taken from the archives at the Then & Now Historical Library in downtown Dorr)
25 Years Ago — Oct. 13, 1993
Word on the street is that an Allegan resident plans to buy the aging and deteriorating Carriage Stop restaurant in downtown Martin and have it moved, eventually to become a residence. The building has been split into two parts and moset recent known owners are Glenn Leep and Donald Kern.
Allegan County Probate Judge George Greig has ruled that Mary Martin has the legal right to remove the feeding tube keeping her husband, Mike, alive. Mike Martin was in a serious car-train accident in Moline in 1987 and has been in a near-vegetative state since.
Yankee Springs Used Cars dealership owner Otto Banas wrote a letter to the Globe protesting the Soapbox editorial opposing a string of such businesses along Chief Noonday Road. He asked, “What have you got against used car dealers?”
Hopkins Elementary teacher Alys Edgell wrote a letter in the wake of the most recent school bond defeat and pledged, “We will continue to do our best to serve the children of the community.”
Wayland High School senior Justin Berg has been named a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist. A 4.0 student at WHS, he is an organist at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church and plans to attend Aquinas College next year.
Members of the Dorr American Legion Post No. 127 held a mortgage burning ceremony. The post was started in 1975.
The Watson Township Hall is undergoing expansion in a $24,000 project.
Seventh District Allegan County Commissioner Gary Melvin told the Hopkins Township Board he continues to lobby for local government reforms, such having County Board meetings evenings instead of mornings.
The Fourth Friday count for Wayland revealed a total student population of 2,806, up 102 from the year before.
South Christian defeated Wayland on the gridiron 29-14. Hopkins moved to 6-0 and is entertaining post-season playoff hopes after a bruising 56-12 victory over Bellevue. Tim Hibma tossed TD passes to Rich Dame and Ken Bird and Bryan Chiaramonte gained 149 yards.
Martin used four touchdown passes from Mike Smith to Richie Guerrant to edge Decatur 29-25.
Coach Cheri Ritz’s girls’ tennis team qualified for the Class B regional tournament.
Zack Moushegian’s Wildcat girls’ basketball team posted its 10th straight victory and it prepares for a showdown with undefeated Coopersville.
The Martin girls’ basketball squad hiked its SAC record to 6-0 and has a key matchup ahead with Marcellus.
The first-year Wayland boys’ soccer team is 5-3 overall after a 4-3 overtime loss to Hudsonville.
50 Years Ago — Oct. 9, 1968
Jan Chestnut was elected homecoming queen and Ernie Gonzales was chosen king. The court included Jim Hendrixson, Mark Schipper, Brian Martin, Shirley Koperski, Pam Painter and Betsy Cole.
Mayor Phil Reno and City Manager Blaine Bacon made an impassioned plea to members of the Chamber of Commerce to help support the Nov. 5 ballot proposal for a sanitary sewer system, calling it “a must for progress.”
Roni Brooks was inducted into the Honors College at Western Michigan University. The 1966 Wayland High School graduate now is attending the University of Delhi in India.
The conservation class from Hopkins High School visited the gravel pit owned by Bruce Wicks to practice safe shooting with firearms.
Wayland’s oldest resident. Mrs. Emma Plott, celebrated her 105th birthday at the home of Mrs. Henry Ford.
Jim and Dave Hazelwinkel, twin grandsons of Inez Hallan of Moline, are members of the 1968 U.S. Olympic wresting team.
The Wayland varsity football team lost its homecoming game 19-0 to non-league opponent Hart. Coach Lyle Berry brought up sophomores Mark Schipper, Dan Hall and Rick Mosher to the varsity.
Hopkins lost a 12-6 contest against Lawrence. Mike Adamczyk scored the Vikings’ only touchdown on an 86-yard run.
Army Specialist Dennis Ward, a 1964 graduate of Wayland High School, received a commendation medal at a ceremony at Ft. Dix, N.J., for his service in Vietnam from April 1967 to April 1968.
The Band Parents Club is presenting square dancing events at Steeby Elementary on the first and third Saturday evenings of the month. Of course, Jack Cook is the caller.
Now showing at the Wayland Theatre: Sidney Poitier in “To Sir with Love.”
The Rev. John Sergey, producer and director of the radio program “Temple Time,” broadcast in Russian, was to be guest speaker this Sunday at the Community Reformed Church of Hopkins.
Doris Day was starring in “Ballad of Josie” at the U.S.-131 Drive In Theatre near Plainwell.
The Beatles continued their long streak of dominating the music charts with “Hey Jude.”
75 Years Ago — Oct. 15. 1943
Editor-Publisher Rollo G. Mosher noted, “Small game hunters are having a hard time this fall getting necessary ammunition in the way of shotgun shells.” Local dealers receive only a few each because of the war.
Mosher reported the Globe office has seen an unusually high demand from local landowners for “No Hunting” signs.
Radio listeners were able to hear the voices of Roger Kibby of Bradley and Steve Kamyszek of Hopkins during a military exercise broadcast on “The Breakfast Hour” Monday.
Lt. Roman Niemczyk, son of Mr. and Mrs. Joe Niemczyk of Dorr, wrote a letter home explaining that he was a prisoner of war in Germany.
Ruth Kinney married John Rawlinson of Kalamazoo, now living in Liberia, in a wedding ceremony at her South Main Street home. The Rev. C.G. Ellinger of the Congregational Church performed the ceremony.
Wayland’s football team shut down Martin 27-0, with backfield members Hooker, Hines and Arbanas scoring the touchdowns and end Christenson picking up an extra point.
Fire destroyed the house on the Kugelard farm east of Wayland. Elmer and child were home at the time and were not injured. Firefighters were able to save the barn and other buildings.
The answer to roll call at the next Wayland Grange meeting was to be “How large a part should agriculture in high school courses today?”
The all-school party sponsored by the “W” Club was set for Oct. 20 at the gymnasium.
Cpl. Les Bajewa of the U.S. Marines has just completed a 30-day furlough visiting his father after serving at Pearl Harbor and Midway Island. He will receive advanced training at a Marine base in North Carolina.
Nels Jensen was elected president of the Wayland High School chapter of the FFA and Harvey Hazen was selected vice president.
Kay McFarland has enlisted in the SPARS program, women reserves for the U.S. CoastGuard. She is believed to be the first to enroll in that branch of service from this area.
Now showing at the Wayland Theatre:
- Mary Lee in “Nobody’s Darling.”
- Henry Stephenson, Lloyd Corrigon and Dorothy Lovett in “Man Trap.”
- Deanna Durbin and Joseph Cotton in “Hers to Hold.”
- Claudette Colbert, Paulette Goddward and Veronica Lake in “So Proudly We Hail.”
100 Years Ago — Oct. 11, 1918
The Ladies Library Club had “one of the finest programs ever given” in a patriotic presentation that included violin and piano music by Ruth Calkins, Cleo Fox, Lillian Leggett and Edythe Frank.
Village Council Trustee Maybe has resigned.
A petition bearing nine names for overhead lights on Locust Street betweenSycamore and East Superior has been accepted by the Village Council.
James Densmore Babcock has been reported missing in action from the 12th Infantry in France, but a fellow soldier since has reported he saw him in a hospital recovering from wounds of a machine gun.
The next high school assembly program will be a commemoration of Columbus Day.
The Wayland High School football team edged Plainwell 7-6, with Chapple scoring on a pass from Jones. “The significance of this victory is shown by the fact that Wayland has never before defeated Plainwell since 1911. The team is one step closer to the county championship and will take on Allegan next Saturday.
Leon B. Mason, a veteran of the Spanish-American War, is in charge of the military training program at Wayland High School.
Howard Tanner, son of James Tanner of Wayland, is in a country town in France preparing to go the front lines.
Volunteer Days Saturday, Sunday and Monday raised more than $3,000 from patriotic Americans for the war effort. “We will kill the Kaiser with our burden of gold.”
A large number of soldiers at Camp Holibird in Maine are suffering from influenza. Rollo G. Mosher is one of those stationed and he is preparing to ship out and go “Over There.”
E.C. Fitch, who was reported in the previous week’s Globe to have been discovered prostrate and unresponsive at his home office, died several days later of paralysis. He was 72 and a member of the Universalist Church.