75 years ago

April 18, 1942

• While workmen cleared away the wind-strewn wreckage of the shed over No. 1 way, leveled yesterday by a savage squall, Grays Harbor Shipbuilding company officials announced today construction of three more outdoor ways will begin at once.

The roofs and walls of the four ways will be braced together to prevent recurrence of yesterday’s mishap.

Meanwhile, Dickie Lundgren, four-year-old son of Ed Lundgren, vice president, was in St. Joseph’s hospital with multiple fractures of one leg, suffered when he was caught under the tumbling timbers of the way shed yesterday.

• Soldiers and sailors who are not citizens may be naturalized without fulfilling residence requirements, Harbor immigration officials said today in announcing a new policy to aid service men.

Service men who wish to become citizens are not required to file a declaration of intention and need not speak the English language nor meet an educational test. All charges for naturalization have been waived, officials said, the entire procedure for service men being free.

50 years ago

April 18, 1967

• John Spellman, Grays Harbor College librarian, has in the last 24 years donated enough blood to fill the needs of over five average adults. Since 1943, he has given 53 pints of blood, donating approximately every six months.

Spellman said, “when people need it, they need it right away.” He wishes everyone would make it a habit of giving blood.

One time while serving overseas, Spellman donated blood to a soldier suffering from an infection. The doctors used a crude device to remove his blood and give it directly to the soldier. “I like to think that my giving blood helped him live,” Spellman said.

• The longest cliffhanger in television history is over. After four long years as a fugitive, Dr. Richard Kimble finally has been vindicated.

The on-the-lam medic has been played on ABC’s “The Fugitive” by David Janssen. “I’m under wraps as to how the final show came out,” said Janssen. “About all I can say is that I’m innocent.”

When the series started, doubting Thomases couldn’t see how it could last longer than a season. After all, how many possibilities were there for a one-hour drama about a man who escapes after conviction for his wife’s murder? Yet the show came up with endless variations on the theme and established a high quality of script and performance.

25 years ago

April 18, 1992

A group of South Beach youngsters will wash cars and walk a lot of miles Saturday to help raise money for a Grayland man diagnosed with terminal cancer.

The South Beach Caring Kids will walk from the Tokeland marina to the Westport Viewing Tower beginning at 7 a.m. to help defray medical expenses incurred by the Mel Bisher family.

A car wash is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Grayland Service Station on Highway 108.

Bisher, 57, is a retired Army sergeant, past commander of the Grayland VFW and longtime volunteer in Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts.

Compiled from the archives of The Daily World by Karen Barkstrom