75 years ago

Dec. 24, 1941

The McCormick freighter Absaroka was torpedoed but not sunk today by a submarine off the California coast and attempts were made quickly to tow it to a harbor.

The submarine remained on the surface for some time after the attack, and some observers from shore said it appeared to have been crippled. Later, however, it disappeared.

The navy announced that submariners also attacked a second ship, a lumber schooner, name undisclosed. It apparently suffered some damage but reached the Port of Long Beach, Calif. safely.

Dec. 25, 1941

In his three years of Santa Clausing at Cosmopolis, Ralph Phillips never before ran into the double trouble he encountered last night.

While on his round of Christmas visits, Phillips entered a home and ran smack into another Santa Claus. The little children gazed in disbelief. The two Santas stared at each other.

But Phillips wasn’t stumped for long. He strode up to the other Santa, shook his hand and said, “Well if it isn’t my twin brother from Lapland. I haven’t seen you in 40 years.”

Then Phillips turned to the children distributed his gifts and walked out the front door, leaving the children bewildered but obviously convinced.

The other Santa whose “real” name could not be learned, shared the children’s wonder.

50 years ago

Dec. 24, 1966

A naked youth hammering on neighboring doors, three youngsters forcing a teen-age girl to drink vodka, a six-year-old child shoplifting.

This was the day before Christmas in Aberdeen. This, among the usual holiday and regular drunks, kept the Aberdeen police busy on Christmas Eve.

Not everything is bright and shining for the men in blue as they deal with the frailties and sickness of the human race — particularly juveniles not far out of their babyhood.

Dec. 25, 1966

Sunday, no newspaper published

25 years ago

Dec. 24, 1991

With good-natured wisecracks, laughter and a standing ovation, Hoquiam City Council members bid farewell to Carl Wilson and Dorothy Cook at their last meeting of the year last night.

Wilson, who’s a 14-year veteran of the Council, and Cook, who’s been a member for four years, decided not to run for re-election last fall.

Touched by the show of respect and affection, the 82-year-old Wilson thanked the Council. “It’s hard for me to really come up with the amount of appreciation I feel. I’m going to miss you.”

But before the mood became too serious, Wilson got the room laughing again. “We’re all getting older and uglier by the year.”

Dec. 25, 1991

Santa’s holiday schedule tends to be a bit hectic, but with help from Oakville dairy farmer Jim Abbott, he manages many appearances around town.

After getting into that furry red suit every holiday season for the past 30 years, Abbott can sum up the experience like this: “Some snuggle right into your lap, some just shake hands and some don’t want anything to do with you.”

One of Abbott’s favorite holiday assignments was to help church members deliver Christmas baskets and gifts one year.

“Some people I took things to, that was about their whole Christmas. They’re so appreciative, and it really touches your heart. The kids get really excited. They want to tear the wrapping off just like the kids who has everything,” said Abbott. “The real emotion comes from the adults who know the kids are getting something they couldn’t provide.”

This is a Christmas some feared Bo Griffith would never see.

But the Montesano High School boys’ basketball coach is back on the job and slowly on the mend from a rare, debilitating neurological disorder that threatened his life last winter.

The 40-year-old Griffith was stricken with POEMS Syndrome, a disease that eats away the outside coating of nerve endings. Finally a hematologist at the University of Washington Medical Center came up with the proper diagonsis. The disease was arrested and Griffith returned to the classroom in April and to the locker room last month.

”The support I’ve gotton from the local community, the people in Montesano and just the local area was beyond wonder,” Griffith said. “I could have probably written a book on what people did for us during a six-month period. It just never seemed to stop.”

Compiled from the archives of The Daily World by Karen Barkstrom