PIONEER PORTRAITS

Ten Years Ago December 5, 2002

Top off the holiday festivities this week with the Holiday Family Dinner, Monday, December 9th at 7 p.m. in the Ye Town Hall sponsored by the Waitsburg Youth Committee. The event will be free of charge. Families or others plan- ning to attend are asked to bring a side dish according to the alphabetical guide listed below. Provided will be the meat, bread and beverages. Families whose names end in A-D are asked to bring a salad and/or appetizers; E-H: rice, pasta or potato dish; I-L: Casseroles; H-P: vegetables; Q-S: desserts; and T-Z: paper plates, cups, napkins and plastic dinnerware. Pastor Mike Ferrians will give the blessing. Door prizes will be given throughout the evening. After the meal, Jeff Bartlow, Waitsburg football coach and counselor, will give a short talk on family and community.

Twenty-Five Years Ago December 3, 1987

The Port of Walla Walla has recently been awarded an $8,250 grant from the Washington State Department of Com- munity Development's Local Development Matching Funds Urgent Need Reserve Program. The grant, which will be matched with $5,750 from the Port of Walla Walla and $2,500 in contribution from the Waitsburg community, is to be used for a study to investigate potential uses for products that could be produced in the vacant Smith Canning and Freezing facility in Waitsburg. The LDMF Program is intended to strengthen the capacity of local governments and non-profit development entities to carry out economic development activities at the local and regional levels. The Urgent Need Reserve Fund was created to address time sensitive technical capacity needs of economically distressed areas. Every project must demon- strate support and participation from a cross- section of the local economy, including the private sector, labor, education and training, and the public sector. In addition, all grant funds must be matched by a dollar-for-dollar local commitment. The Port of Walla Walla and the Washington State Department of Trade and Economic Development have been working with representatives of Waitsburg community in formulating a plan to get the plant into production again. The plant was closed in the fall of 1986 when Smith Canning ceased production there.

Fifty Years Ago December 7, 1962

Touchet Valley Grain Growers elected new officers on the board Saturday with Merle Brown, president; Ralph Goe, vice president; Ellsworth Conover, secretary-treasurer; Harvey Stonecipher, Jim Erwin, Ed Lawrence and Bill Payne, board members. Nae G. Turner of Lyons Ferry for future freight. The welding on the steel decking is being done by Mace Matheny of Pomeroy. Eleven Waitsburg girls and their mothers met in the multi-purpose room of the school on Wednesday to orga- nize a new clothing 4-H club. Officers elected were Paula Ben- son, president; Janet Fischer, vice president; Susan Webber, secretary; Ann Payne, treasurer; and Debby Conover, reporter.

Seventy-Five Years Ago December 10, 1937

The Dayton Chronicle Dispatch says that approximately 220 acres of asparagus will be added, next spring to the acreage already available, according to officials of the Blue Mountain Canneries. The Commercial Club will compliment the football squad of Waitsburg High School and the coaches with a gridiron banquet on next Tuesday evening, Dec. 14. A group of young people from the Christian Church drove over to Yakima to attend a three-day meeting. Those making the trip were Virginia Rinehart, Laura Lee Small, Evelyn Mills, Adelle Conover, Phyllis Danielson, Earl Gilmore and Virginia Bloor.

One Hundred Years Ago December 6, 1912

The ladies of the Presbyterian Church have arranged to hold a bazaar in the old Merchants Bank Building, Main Street, Saturday, Dec. 7. There will be on sale many beautiful and useful articles suitable for Christmas gifts. Public cordially invited. Gordon Keiser, son of Mr. and Mrs. F.T. Keiser, was surprised last Saturday on his sixth birthday by a number of his little friends. An enjoyable afternoon was passed and dainty refreshments served. Those invited were Dorothy Call, Ruth and Edna Eichlberger, Hazel and Vance Brotherton, Delbert and Vera Woodworth, Solomon Wilde, Lucile and Evaline Roberts, Helen LaClaire, Floyd Taylor, Donald Glover and Gordon Keiser.

One Hundred Twenty-Five Years Ago December 9, 1887

George Lloyd, one of the most popular and deserving young men of this section, has accepted a clerkship in the post office store. Frank Parton, the miller, this week traded his old stones, formerly used in Washington Mills, for a fine horse and buggy. Frank would trade anything for a horse. A beautiful spring day, and farmers busy plowing; small boys flying kites, and birds making music in the air. Think of it, ye frozen fool of the frigid east, and straightway come west. Within the last two weeks petty thieves have been getting in their work in good shape in this city. Several cellars have been raided and almost depleted. The thieves seem to have a preference for choice canned goods. Keep a sharp outlook.