75 years ago

Feb. 21, 1942

Forty-six percent of Aberdeen’s school enrollment has purchased defense stamps and bonds, officials announced yesterday. A total of 1,504 pupils have given their savings in exchange for the war securities.

McDermoth school leads with 550 pupils having bought stamps, followed by 32o at the junior high school, 272 at the high school, 140 at A.J. West, 75 at Central Park, 63 at Washington, 60 at Stevens and 24 at A.J. West.

Feb. 22, 1942

Sunday, no newspaper published

50 years ago

Feb. 21, 1967

• Mrs. Vera Phelps Hamilton, 72, retired long-time Aberdeen school teacher and community and church leader, died unexpectedly yesterday.

She was attending a committee meeting at the Community Center when she became ill. She was taken to a local hospital where she was dead on arrival.

She taught physics and chemistry at Weatherwax High School for 29 years, retiring 14 years ago.

• Harsh words were uttered in the Grays Harbor Commissioners’ hearing room yesterday afternoon as the principals in the continuing feud over the operation of Hugo Daniels’ cedar products mill in Junction City engaged in another verbal battle.

In July, 1959, the commissioners granted Daniels permission to use a 40-foot portion of the county right-of-way on Front Street near his mill site but they cancelled his permit Feb. 6 after numerous residents of the neighborhood presented evidence that Daniels was abusing his privilege.

Chairman Leighton Powell pounded his gavel several times during the meeting and things quieted down a bit.

“If they (the neighbors) will just stop telling us how to run our mill we’ll fix up a good screen for our burner and take care of the problems,” said Hugo’s son, David Daniels.

The board decided to let the mill remain in operation, but made it very clear that should the neighbors continue to complain, the board will have no choice but to take action to have the operation moved.

Feb. 22, 1967

Aberdeen’s southside shopping center below the college is expected to have 45 stores, Olympia realtor Robert Blume reported.

“Our target date for opening is the fall of 1968. We have commitments from several large chains and the basic plan of the Aberdeen setup will be similar to our South Sound Shopping Center in Lacey,” Blume said.

25 years ago

Feb. 21, 1992

Longtime Cosmopolis Police Chief Don Lapacek is recuperating at home from heart surgery and expects to be back on the job in about six weeks.

It it a quiet vacation as Lapacek, 54, regains his strength following five-way heart bypass surgery at St. Peter Hospital in Olympia earlier this month.

Lt. Gary Eisenhower is acting chief.

Feb. 22, 1992

• Last month was the end of an era for Grays Harbor Star Electric Co. in Hoquiam, as Stan Johannes, 64, retired after 48 years at the business started by his dad. “Every day is Saturday and Sunday now,” Johannes says.

He and his wife, Bonnie, will spend their new-found free time travelling and visiting with their three grandsons who “need grandpa attention,” he said.

Johannes took over Star Electric when his father, Eugene, died in 1967. With his mother, Linda, as the owner, Johannes has been running the business ever since. “One day I was an electrician, the next I was a businessman,” he says of this transition. “I was a better wireman than businessman,” he laughs.

• Family members say 3 1/2 year old Ryan Johnson has been fascinated with fire.

But the fascination turned to fear, then confusion, Thursday morning when the child lit a match and ignited some papers in the living room of his family home at 919 Chenault in Hoquiam.

Happily, the boy and his mother, who is four months pregnant, escaped with only minor smoke inhalation. Ryan’s 7-year-old brother, James, was at school.

The walls are still there, but the house was completely gutted. “Everything is gone,” said Ryan’s mom, Dixie, who is a waitress at the River Haven restaurant.

Compiled from the archives of The Daily World by Karen Barkstrom