(Taken from the archives at the Then & Now Historical Library in downtown Dorr)
25 Years Ago —June 15, 1994
The Allegan County Board of Commissioners has voted to place an emergency 911 surcharge proposition on the August primary election ballot instead of continuing with the quarter mill levy over the past four years. The surcharge of a $1.95 base rate would raise $700,000 annually, about double what the millage rate generated.
The Watson Township Board has set an Oct. 13 deadline for removal of the old Carriage Stop Restaurant building that formerly was located in the Village of Martin. If the deadline isn’t met, it will be torn down.
Wayland High School band alum Pat McCowen wrote a letter to the editor insisting the junior high band be more visible in community events. The issue was discussed at a Board of Education meeting and a petition with 49 signatures was presented, but school officials asserted the students first must become able to play the music properly and march at the same time.
Elizabeth Maher, responding to criticism in Jan Iciek’s letter the previous week, noted the school committee on what do about overcrowding for Hopkins schools had essentially three options — portable classrooms, split sessions or a bond issue.
One a 5-2 vote, the City Council approved a trquest from the Jolly Bar & Grille to have an outdoor area to serve alcohol during Summerfest June 21. Mayor Mike DeWeerd and Councilman Dallas Strong cast the dissenting votes because because of concerns about drunken driving.
Winning board seats in the annual school elections were Barb Keyzer and Roger Evans at Martin, Mike Browand and Roxie Muczynski in Wayland, and Paula Sebright and Dawn Buist in Hopkins. Martin voters, turned down a 2.5-mill request for a computer program.
The body of a 60-year-old woman was discovered in a car parked near Wayland Junior High School. Authorities noted a contained of antifreeze and a cup were found near her body inside the vehicle. An autopsy will be conducted to determine the cause of death.
An early retirement incentive adopted by the Wayland Board of Education has resulted in a flood of retirements for teachers and coaches, including Daryl Fleser, Gerald Omness, Vonna Berry, Ken Pearson, Donna Rowe and Richard Wiley. Others retiring are Ev Jansen, Marilyn Wiersma, Elaine Grasinski, Marion Butler, Jeannette Schwartz, Berdine Dettar and Matt Modreski. The Globe published a feature story about Jansen, retiring transportation supervisor.
Ed Wedge has resigned as chief of police at Hopkins and he will be succeeded by interim Tom Hostetler.
Heath Alflen, capping a very active athletic career at Wayland High School, won a $1,500 scholarship from the Grand Rapids Men’s Bowling Association, a $1,000 Lomanaco Scholarship, and a $500 award from the Grand Rapids Young American Bowling Association.
Kelly Germain was valedictorian and Mike Smith salutatorian for the Class of 1994 at Martin High School.
The Wayland Lions Club chose as its Citizen of the Year former Mayor and assistant high school principal Linden Anderson.
Doris DeHaan of Wayland won Queen of Show honors at the Grand Valley Iris Society’s annual program.
50 Years Ago — June 11, 1969
All three economic proposals by Wayland schools were shot down in annual school elections, including a proposed raise for members of the Board of Education and two sinking fund propositions for building repairs. Robert Hendrixson unseated incumbent Dr. G.A. VandeVoord for school board. Carl Johnson was re-elected in Hopkins and Mrs. Anthony Geib and Harry Morrell won in Martin.
Wayland Board of Education President Wallace Wakeman was elected to a six-year seat on the Allegan County Intermediate School District Board.
Wayland Future Teachers of America members Barbara Gilbert and Neil Ellinger have won a trip to Washington D.C. for the National Education Association seminar.
Jerry Freeman and Wayne Ritz are serving as co-chairs of the parade for the Moline Community Fair June 21. Featured entertainment will be Rem Wall and the Green Valley Jamboree Boys of WKZO, Channel 3, fame.
Maxine VanDenBerg has graduated from nursing school at Blodgett Memorial Hospital and will join the nursing staff there.
Janet Kelsey was valedictorian and Dale Noteboom salutatorian as Martin graduated 38 seniors from the Class of 1969.
The Grand Rapids chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association will have a gathering and ox roast at the Wayland Municipal Airport, with Willard and Donna Benedict serving as host and hostess.
Two juvenile boys who admitted to having too much to drink were apprehended by Michigan State Police, Wayland post, for vandalizing Germond Cemetery.
The Allegan County Health Department had a special program on the sorry state of housing in Allegan County, asserting that 30 percent of dwellers have inadequate plumbing.
Pfc. Andrew Pigeon of Hopkins has been assigned to an infantry division in Vietnam as radio repairman.
Now showing at the Wayland Theatre: “Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell.”
The Monterey Center school reunion will get under way at 7 p.m. Saturday, June 21, with a potluck.
Lynne Freeman of Moline, a junior at Wayland High School, won the strutting championship at the state baton twirling contest in Grand Rapids.
Wayland High School Principal JC Clyma and Randy Sandmeyer won the Faculty-Student golf tournament.
The Beatles continued to hold down the No. 1 slot on the music charts with “Get Back.”
75 Years Ago — June 16, 1944
Guert V. Fales of Leighton Township, president of the Wayland Board of Education, former superintendent and longtime community activist, died at age 70 at Blodgett Hospital in Grand Rapids. He had undergone successful surgery for appendicitis two weeks earlier, but then developed pneumonia.
Clair Oliver, 54, formerly of Bradley, was fatally injured in a train wreck in Chicago. He was from Wayland High School’s Class of 1911.
Mrs. Ida Elson will give a talk about travel to members of the Ladies Library Club for their annual garden party at the Wayland home of Mrs. Genevieve Snook.
Fremont Hooker, a Leighton Township pioneer who lived here all his life, died of a heart attack at the home where he was born. He was 77, Hooker was a member of the Modern Woodmen fraternity and the Leighton Grange.
Former Wayland resident Mrs. Herbert Smith died of a stroke in Grand Rapids after she had been in a traffic crash six years earlier.
Roger Kibby wrote to Wayland Theatre owner Naman Frank from New Guinea, where he said he and his battalion had overtaken and taken over a local theater there.
Sgt. R.C. “Dick” Selkirk has arrived for duty in New Guinea, joining Sgt. Forest Levandoski of Wayland and Master Sgt. John Wheatley of Hopkins.
Walter Gillett, a teacher for Wayland schools for the past three years, has accepted a commission as ensign in the U.S. Navy and plans to ship out within the next month or two.
Bud Malmstone has become Wayland’s first-ever major, according to Editor-Publisher Rollo G. Mosher, while serving as an assistant operations officer in the Pacific Theatre.
Robert C. Herp of Wayland has been a awarded a soldier’s medal for heroism for his selfless actions in combat in Italy.
Now showing at the Wayland Theatre:
- Gene Autry and Smiley Burnette in “Oh Suzannah!”
- Preston Foster and Ann Rutherford in “Bermuda Mystery.”
- Wallace beery and Majorie Main in “Rationing.”
- Alice Faye, Carmen Miranda and the Benny Goodman Orchestra in “The Gang’s All Here.”
100 Years Ago — June 13, 1919
In a front page obituary about George Ambrose Mosher, one of four editor-publishers of the Wayland Globe over more than 100 years, it was noted that he was born in Wayland Township on Feb. 9, 1857, making him one of the earliest natives in the area. He worked at Wayland News, the Petoskey Democrat, established the Petoskey Record and Columbia Dispatch in South Dakota and then returned to Wayland to start the Globe in 1884. The community was still awaiting the arrival of his son, Rollo, from overseas after George’s death June 2.
The U.S. Railroad Administration has announced that the Bradley station will be operated only on a pre-paid basis. Orders for empty cars must made at Shelbyville or Wayland, where regular agents will be maintained.
Miss Annabel Campbell from Michigan State Agricultural College in East Lansing visited poultry clubs in Martin Township and Hopkinsburg for culling demonstrations.
Harold Dean, not yet 2 years old, died after a brief illness at his home. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Fred Dean, had suffered the tragedy of losing a daughter a little more than two years earlier. Two sons, Ward and Wendell, survive.
Charles T. Wiggins, who marched with General William Tecumseh Sherman through Georgia to the Atlantic Ocean near the end of the Civil War, died after a lingerillness in Wayland. He was 76.
Plainwell Public Schools were closed before the end of the academic year because of an outbreak of smallpox.
Fred Burleson has sold the property that house his broom factory to S.J. McCaslin and has purchased from his the site of his auto sales and service business.
The Allegan County Patriotic League has been launched with its first meeting in the county seat on May 31.
Station to station calls will cost 15 cents and person to person 20 cents under new telephone rates announced by the postmaster.
