In this installment of a Look Back in Time, U.S. Army soldiers were due to arrive and camp out overnight at the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds during their annual 150-mile trek from Vancouver up to what is now Joint Base Lewis-McChord, according to the Friday, April 26, 1935, edition of The Chronicle.
A total of 65 land owners were given notice of an upcoming public hearing concerning the potential sale of around 2,200 acres of land in central Lewis County by the City of Tacoma that would later become Mayfield Lake following completion of the Mayfield Dam, according to the Tuesday, April 26, 1955, edition of The Chronicle.
In the Monday, April 26, 1965, edition of The Chronicle, preliminary excavation for the Mossyrock Dam’s foundation had begun.
Pe Ell High School graduate turned NASA engineer Terry Neal had just arrived in the Soviet Union to begin training on a joint U.S.-Soviet mission to attempt an in-orbit linkup between space ships from the two nations, according to the Saturday, April 26, 1975, edition of The Chronicle.
A Look Back in Time is compiled using Chronicle archives at the Lewis County Historical Museum along with digital archives on newspapers.com.
Friday, April 26, 1935
• U.S. Army soldiers from the 7th Infantry Division had accepted an invitation to camp at the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds during the division’s annual 150-mile trek from their barracks in Vancouver up to Fort Lewis, The Chronicle reported. The trek was going to start on May 3 and end on May 10, with the soldiers expecting to arrive at the fairgrounds on May 7 to camp overnight. According to Army Major G. M. Halloran, “the 7th Infantry Band, which has had the pleasure of giving concerts in your city in previous years, gives a concert in camp each evening enroute at 6:30. All visitors are cordially invited to attend these concerts and also visit the camp.”
• A total of 94 Centralia High School students made the school’s honor roll for the second six-week period of that semester according to Principal Paul Ferguson, The Chronicle reported. All 94 students had at least B averages or better in all subjects. “Heading the list are 14 students with all A’s to their credit. They are Thora Hansen, freshman; Bob Harman, Vivian Huntington and Ellis Oliver, sophomores; Beulah Packard, Marguerite Savage and John Strentz, juniors, and Clarence Flesher, Mary Hawes, Edith Mauerman, Dorothey Neely, Marion Oliver, Ruth Poore and Vincent Voegele, seniors.”
• The Chronicle featured an Associated Press story about how the Oregon State Capitol building in Salem had burned down the previous night. One firefighter, Floyd McMullen, was killed battling the blaze, which left the capitol building “an ugly black shell.” McMullen was killed when he was crushed by a brick chimney that collapsed. “The 60-year-old capitol building, which contained the main departmental offices, the executive offices and the senate and house chambers, cost $700,000.” Officials estimated an additional $1.5 million in equipment along with historical records and artifacts were also lost in the fire. It was believed the fire originated in the building’s basement and spread via an elevator shaft.
• Local resident Warren Roller was critically injured after falling underneath a Mason County Logging Company train near Bordeaux, The Chronicle reported. Bordeaux is a Thurston County ghost town located just west of Littlerock and the Mima Mounds Natural Area Preserve. “His right leg was almost severed from the body, just below the groin. Roller, a brakeman, was said to have been setting the brakes on an empty flatcar when he fell under the train. He was taken to an Olympia hospital.”
• Cleveland Parsons, who was taken into custody earlier that week in an unspecified investigation, was declared insane, The Chronicle reported. He was “adjudged insane yesterday by a sanity commission in superior court and was ordered committed to the Western Washington Hospital.”
• George Lehmeier’s plumbing equipment and parts store in Chehalis was broken into early that morning, The Chronicle reported. The store, which was located on National Avenue, was said to have been “robbed of merchandise valued at about $100.”
• Motorists in downtown Centralia were advised to watch their driving on North Tower Avenue as the street was being resurfaced, The Chronicle reported. “Manholes are being raised to make allowance for the new covering. Two drivers reported they struck manhole covers last night and suffered (tire) blowouts.”
• The Chronicle featured a legal notice from the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office concerning the upcoming auction of Centralia properties seized from H.C. Gillam and his wife, Ida Gillam, following the liquidation of the First Farmers-Merchants Bank & Trust Company in Centralia. The property was due to be auctioned off to the highest bidder to cover “attorney’s fees, interest, costs and increased costs” accrued by the Gillams totalling $1,560.37.
Thursday, April 26, 1945
• Plans for an upcoming V-E (Victory in Europe) Day in Centralia were revised by the Centralia Chamber of Commerce, The Chronicle reported. Chamber officials advised Centralia store owners to conduct business as usual once the official news of Germany’s surrender was announced. “The city’s former V-E Day program had included closing of all businesses, but during the past several months communities throughout the Pacific Northwest have changed their attitude of celebration to one featuring restraint of merriment and along more reverent lines. Porter Gesler, retail trades chairman, said his committee now believes V-E Day should be an occasion for personal rededication to complete support of the war effort against Japan. He added, ‘the end of the European war doesn’t mean our job is finished by any means.’”
• U.S. Army staff sergeant Glenn H. LaPine of Centralia was confirmed to still be alive as a German prisoner of war after he was initially declared missing in action on Jan. 23 in Belgium during World War II, The Chronicle reported. LaPine’s sister had received a “prisoner-of-war postcard” from him confirming he was still alive. LaPine had initially been deployed to North Africa during WWII, before entering the European Theater and being involved in the D-Day invasion at Normandy, France. “Hope of his sister is that since he forwarded the card he has been freed by invading American forces.”
• Two more Lewis County residents were killed in action during World War II, The Chronicle reported. U.S. Army private first class Paul J. Pecolar, 20, from Galvin just outside Centralia, was killed in Germany on April 10 while serving with an Army field artillery unit after going overseas the previous September. Originally from Wyoming, Pecolar moved to Galvin after graduation from high school to be with his parents. “He entered service in May, 1943, after working at the Bremerton Navy Yard.” In WWII’s Pacific Theater, U.S. Marine Corps private first class Gearold R. Frees, 33, from Onalaska, was killed on March 17 while fighting on Mindanao Island in the Philippines. “He was attached to an infantry outfit of the 41st Division.”
• The Chronicle featured an Associated Press story about a British Royal Air Force (RAF) bombing raid that targeted The Berghof — Adolph Hitler’s holiday chalet located in Berchtesgaden in Germany’s Bavarian Alps. RAF bombers were joined by aircraft from the U.S. Army Air Corps 8th Air Force, which “escorted missions of Allied heavy bombers to Hitler’s hideout area.” The bombing raid coincided with both American and Soviet Russian military advancements in capturing Berlin, Germany. “Inside the inferno that is Berlin, a fantastic battle of the subways raged. Last-ditch Nazi defenses were pounded mercilessly by Soviet guns … American armies captured at least 12 German generals Tuesday.”
• Dr. Cedric Northrop, the Washington state Department of Health’s tuberculosis control officer, was scheduled to host a tuberculosis clinic on Friday at the Lewis County General Hospital in Centralia following a request from Lewis County’s health department, The Chronicle reported. “Anyone who has been in contact with tuberculosis, or who may have had the disease, may request an examination through his own family physician or through the health department in the courthouse in Chehalis by Thursday.”
• A completely furnished five-room “modern” house on Tower Avenue in Centralia on a “good lot” with a garden and new paint was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $3,150.
Tuesday, April 26, 1955
• Sixty-five Lewis County land owners accounting for around 2,200 acres of property in central Lewis County being eyed for purchase by the City of Tacoma for its Cowlitz River Dam project were notified of a public hearing scheduled for the land acquisition, The Chronicle reported. The public hearing was scheduled for June 20 in the U.S. federal court in Tacoma, and the land being considered was “for the Mayfield power dam project … (The City of) Tacoma has already acquired 217 acres in the project area, some of it being necessary for the current project of constructing a road into the Mayfield Dam site. What the city is doing now is preparing to buy the land for what will be the Mayfield Reservoir.” The Mayfield Dam was expected to take approximately two and a half years to complete and cost around $45 million. Construction of the Mayfield Dam was completed in 1963.
• Chehalis county-city airport commissioners authorized the purchase of an airport shop building on Monday, The Chronicle reported. The building was purchased from Ben F. Wells of Chehalis for $1,500. “In other action, a one-year lease was signed with Lawrence A. Davis at $25 per month rent to maintain regular airplane shop work and flight training in the building. Davis will move from California to begin operations May 1.”
• Two of the largest fines ever levied for speeding in Lewis County Superior Court at the time were paid by the defendants, The Chronicle reported. “Paul J. Anderson and Patrick E. Dionne each forfeited $50. The two men, one from the Olympia area and the other from Aberdeen, were arrested on the New Pacific Highway between Centralia and Chehalis about two weeks ago within an hour of each other. The arresting patrolman said each was measured by radar as going 85 miles an hour.”
• U.S. Marine Corps corporal Roy Clinton Ross of Pe Ell arrived at Marine Corps Base Twenty-Nine Palms in California to begin automatic weapons training, The Chronicle reported. “Ross, an outstanding athlete while at Pe Ell High School, attended Centralia Junior College before enlisting in the United States Marine Corps in January, 1954. He is an automatic weapons repairman.”
• Dale Jensen of Cosmopolis and G. H. Lytle of Hoquiam had successfully made it to shore and survived after their fishing boat — the Seagull of Bellingham — caught fire near North Beach, The Chronicle reported. “Both of whom are being treated at Grays Harbor Community Hospital for burns and exposure.
• Members of the Onalaska Community Church celebrated the church’s 40th birthday on Sunday, The Chronicle reported. “About 200 attended the morning service, at which Rev. Carl James, former pastor of the church, now of Seattle, was the speaker. Following the service a potluck dinner was enjoyed by all.” During the potluck, many of the church’s members shared stories going back to the church’s founding in 1915. “There were also two musical numbers, a flute solo, ‘On Wings of Song,’ by Mary Temple, and a baritone solo, ‘Beautiful Colorado,’ by Edward Rosenkilde.”
• A four-room house on 1 acre of land in Centralia, complete with a “floor furnace, Venetian blinds, cement foundation, modern kitchen,” along with a garage, shop and chicken coop was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $10,500. A “large” one-bedroom house with a garage and a fenced yard in Centralia’s Lincoln district was listed for rent for $40 a month.
Monday, April 26, 1965
• Preliminary excavation work for the Mossyrock Dam’s foundation “where 250 men are now employed” started the week prior, The Chronicle reported. “Rock has been exposed on the south, or left abutment of the $101 million dam and drilling has started for blasting work on the excavation. The prime contractor for the project, Dravo-Johnson, also is about to start work on the tunnel portals.” The tunnels were designed to divert the Cowlitz River to allow construction of the dam’s hydroelectric structure. Construction of the Mossyrock Dam, which is now Washington state’s tallest dam at 365 feet high above the riverbed, was completed in 1968.
• The Daily Chronicle won the 1964 Washington State Newspaper Excellence Award for public service, The Chronicle reported. “Announcement and presentation of the honor, the most coveted by all daily newspapers, including the metropolitan dailies of Seattle, Tacoma and Spokane, was made Saturday night in Seattle at the annual Sigma Delta Chi banquet.” The award was given to The Chronicle’s news and editorial staff for their year-long coverage of the 3,127-acre Mayfield Youth Camp project.
• Members of the Centralia Junior Chamber of Commerce staged their eighth annual kids’ fishing derby “with almost perfect cooperation from the fish and the weather,” The Chronicle reported. An estimated 800 children lined up around the shore of the Fort Borst Park Lake for the fishing derby, “plus nearly as many dads in various stages of enjoyment and despair.” The derby’s grand prizes went to Gene Allwine, 9, who had a total caught fish length of 74 inches, and Gayle Nelson, 8, who had a total caught fish length of 60.5 inches.
• Formal charges were expected to be filed that day against a former St. Louis, Missouri, man who was involved in a shooting at a Centralia tavern on Friday, The Chronicle reported. “Police Chief Otto Rucker explained the man had been in a Centralia tavern earlier in the evening and became involved in an argument. Shortly after he left, a shot was fired through the front window of the tavern.” Nobody was directly hit by the bullet, but a fragment did strike one bar patron on the head. “He was not hurt.” The man, who was not identified, was being held in the Centralia city jail on a charge of carrying a concealed weapon without a permit.
• The Chronicle featured an Associated Press story about Communist aggression growing in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. According to U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, while aggression had been growing “progressively more flagrant,” there was still no need for the use of nuclear weapons. “A regular North Vietnamese battalion of 400 to 500 men is now in the South, he said, adding that some 39,000 Communists in all have crossed the border to join the fighting.”
• Members of the Morton Preschool Parent-Teacher Association were planning a community screening for women in the area featuring American Cancer Society education films on breast cancer detection, The Chronicle reported. Film screening was to be held on Wednesday inside the Morton grade school’s lunchroom. “The films are based on educating the individual for protection against the early stages of cancer … The films will be shown to women only and all women are urged to attend. Mothers with high school seniors at home are invited to bring them along.”
• A 40-acre plot of land 8 miles from Chehalis with a five-bedroom home, barn, chicken coop with its own well was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $16,000. A “cozy, clean” one-bedroom furnished house in Chehalis was listed for rent for $55 a month.
Saturday, April 26, 1975
• Pe Ell High School graduate Terry Neal had become a member of the NASA flight crew stationed in the Soviet Union, The Chronicle reported. “Neal is working with the prime U.S.-Soviet space crew that will attempt a linkup this July between space ships from each country.” An aeronautical engineer who studied at the University of Washington, Neal had previously been stationed at both NASA’s headquarters in Houston, Texas, along with its launch site at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Neal, who passed away in 2015 at the age of 72, would go onto to be involved in multiple NASA missions until he retired in 2005. This included working on the first moon landing mission, Apollo 11, and the first space walk and first satellite repair missions for NASA’s Space Shuttle program.
• Tenino residents were due to vote on a $1.2 million bond issue helping finance the construction of a new elementary school, The Chronicle reported. “If approved, the bond issue will comprise the district’s share of funding for the new grade school plus the remodeling of the present elementary school. State tax funds will pay about 75% of the project cost.” The reason behind pushing for construction of a new school was increasing enrollment. “Currently, the Tenino district is on emergency status because of the enrollment increase. Enrollment for this school year is up more than 100.”
• Evaline Elementary School students were learning the metric system as part of an outside class project recently under the direction of their teacher, Judy Wilson, The Chronicle reported. Area residents were also due to vote on a special levy which “will provide funds, if approved, to replace windows … and to redecorate the interior. The proposed $16,422 levy will cost taxpayers about $5 per $1,000 of assessed valuation.”
• Former Miss Lewis County Pageant director Bob Spahr, of Chehalis, was chosen to be the master of ceremonies for the 1975 Miss Lewis County Pageant, The Chronicle reported. “The May 3 pageant sponsored by Chehalis Jaycees and Jacee-ettes is scheduled 3 to 8 p.m. at the R.E. Bennett School auditorium.” Nine contestants were competing to be Miss Lewis County 1975, and the winner would be crowned by 1974 Miss Lewis County Cindi Sawyer of Onalaska. Spahr would go on to be elected to the Chehalis City Council in 1988, and still serves on the council today.
• A new three-bedroom home on Newaukum Hill with a “good sired family room, custom kitchen,” along with a two-car garage and large patio was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $32,700. A one-bedroom “cottage, carpeted, modern, in Chehalis,” was listed for rent for $125 a month.
