75 years ago

March 15, 1943

Capt. Martha Raye, who has been entertaining troops in Britain and North Africa for 4 1/2 months, told today of spending three days and nights in a slit trench during a succession of air raids, of being bombed out of her bed and of being in a plane that was attacked by German fliers.

She lost all her clothes in one North African air raid and borrowed a private’s pants and shirt until a specially designed uniform arrived from England.

Less than two weeks before she was scheduled to return home she came down with yellow fever or a reaction to yellow fever shots and was hospitalized for eight days.

“My biggest thrill,” she said, “was standing on a hotel roof during a raid and seeing the search lights pick up an enemy bomber. Then our ack-ack brought it down in flames, right in the spotlight.”

March 16, 1943

Howard Anderson, gunners mate first class, and former electric and power company service man, was out for a stroll on one of the tiny islands in the south seas recently when whom should he see! None other than his old school mate and lifelong friend, Al Holland, pharmacist first class, and former Aberdeen pharmacist.

“We were both flabbergasted, to say the least,” said Anderson in a letter to his wife. “Did we have a good old-fashioned talk session! After months without seeing anyone from our section, seeing Al made the island almost seem like home. Of course, both of us would like to stroll down old Wishkah street again!”

50 years ago

March 15, 1968

The Montesano City Council will take up a proposal to add a third officer to the city’s police force and a full-time fireman when it holds its next meeting Tuesday.

Chief Bruce Curtright gave a rundown of police activities for the period between Jan. 1 and Feb. 27. Police handled 65 complaints, investigated 8 accidents, made 14 arrests, handled 16 juvenile cases and issued 56 warnings.

March 16, 1968

Ten student musicians from Weatherwax High School will participate in the All-State High School Band, Orchestra and Chorus, being held in conjunction with the Music Educators’ National Conference in Seattle next week.

Representing the Aberdeen High School will be Diane Evans, violin; Dawn Asikainen, viola; Robert Swan, cello; Barbara Kalso, string base; Ray Smith, oboe; Keith Kauhanen, baritone; James Brown, trumpet; Bill Newman, baritone saxophone; Kathy O’Neill, alto and bruce Maupin, tenor.

Aberdeen music faculty attending the conference are Hampton Wines, James Morrison, Richard Lundstrom, Walter Birkeland, Jean Sienko and J. Gordon Edlund.

25 years ago

March 15, 1993

It may be the shortest summer ever for students at A.J. West Elementary School.

The Aberdeen School Board will make the final decision in one week, but it looks likely that the West End kids will head back to school on Aug. 18 as a two-year pilot program for a year-round school schedule gets underway.

“This is a cutting edge thing that we are close to pulling off,” said Superintendent Sonja Martin. “We’re trying, in a creative way, to meet the needs of the children.”

After a workshop session last week, the school board discussed the advantages of the year-round program — improved academic achievement, less time spent on review, improved attendance and few discipline problems.

But there are some drawbacks: bucking tradition, families having students on more than one calendar and having to change family schedules.

March 16, 1993

Sue Ness has come a long way from the day 13 years ago when she applied for a temporary job at the Satsop Post Office.

The full-time mother of three boys just wanted “to get out of the house.”

On Monday, Mrs. Ness became the first female postmaster in Aberdeen history. She’s only the 16th person to hold the job since a post office was established here in 1884. Moreover, she’s probably the only native Aberdonian to ever attain the post.

Compiled from the archives of The Daily World by Karen Barkstrom