75 years ago

Dec. 20, 1941

A 21-year-old sergeant, from Portland was held in Aberdeen city hall today while police and the prosecutor’s office sought to determine whether Mrs. Grace Whitesel, Aberdeen, was shot accidentally or deliberately in front of the El Paso tavern last night. She is in critical condition at Aberdeen General hospital with a .45 caliber bullet hole through her chest.

Patrolman Dave Auer and Earl McManus had removed the sergeant from the tavern last night following a fight with another soldier. Mrs. Whitesel came out of the tavern and got into the front seat of the patrol car to talk to the sergeant when the gun went off.

The name of the solider involved in the shooting was withheld by the police because its divulgence might indirectly reveal information of value to the enemy.

Dec. 21, 1941

Sunday, no newspaper published

50 years ago

Dec. 20, 1966

It isn’t often a group of employees, private or governmental, think their boss deserves more praise than he gets.

But the Aberdeen postal employees do. They believe Postmaster Ben Meservey is under-appreciated. And they have taken the Christmas season to express publicly their admiration and affection for their boss.

A letter sent to the Aberdeen Daily World points out that Meservey is a working postmaster. “He is often seen on the work floor or personally handling problems in the field. … He provides a firm but warm understanding leadership for his employees and his door is always open for problems or suggestions.”

Dec. 21, 1966

Florist Frank Mandich doesn’t fancy himself as Santa Claus, at least to the extent of giving away diamonds.

Mandish said that apparently he had inadvertently given away the diamond in his ring. He figured the gem fell off into a potted plant or floral arrangement he was preparing for one of his customers.

Mandich hopes the spirit of Christmas will prevail in the person who finds the diamond and he gets it back.

25 years ago

Dec. 20, 1991

Marie Freestone’s godmother taught her to knit when she was 5 years old. A year later, a bout with childhood measles, turned to encephalitis, and left Marie blind.

During World War II while she was attending Perkins School for the Blind in Massachusetts, she volunteered through the Red Cross to knit sweaters for servicemen.

Now at 65, the energetic South Aberdeen woman is thrilled to be part of “Project Warm-Up” sponsored by the Retired Senior Volunteer Program of the Coastal Community Action Program.

The hats, scarves and mittens that Marie and 17 other volunteers have knitted and crocheted in the last couple of months were given this week to various organizations to distribute to Harborites in need of some warmth.

Dec. 21, 1991

• When 12-year-old Jeremy McMullen first woke to the smell of smoke in his family’s Hoquiam home early Dec. 14, he didn’t think too much about it.

“I didn’t even open my eyes at first,”recalls the Central School fifth-grader. “I was just getting ready to go back to sleep, but then I got a really big whiff.”

That was all it took for Jeremy to shake off sleep and bolt from his bed to wake the seven others sleeping in the house at the time.

By the time firefighters arrived a few minutes later, the upstairs was engulfed in flames and smoke had overtaken the rest of the house on S. Fifth Street.

“He probably saved his family’s life, not to mention his own,” recalls Fire Captain Randy Tuttle, who was on the scene that night. “He probably got them out in the nick of time.”

During a Christmas assembly at Central School yesterday, the Hoquiam Fire Department surprised the youngster with a T-shirt and a certificate applauding his “excellent judgment and bravery.”

• Mariah’s restaurant at the Polynesian Resort in Ocean Shores reopened last week after about a month of cleaning and remodeling. Everything from the carpet to ceiling lights have been reworked in pastels that banishes the former dark colored setting. Even the dishes and silverware are new.

“We’re hoping people won’t even realize they’re at the same place at all,” said Steve Roaldson, general managers of the resort. “We want it all to be totally new.”

Compiled from the archives of The Daily World by Karen Barkstrom