75 years ago

Oct. 6, 1941

Parents of boys under 16 years found with guns inside city limits will be prosecuted, Police Chief A.M. “Pat” Gallagher said today following wounding of a cemetery worker Saturday by a stray bullet believed fired from a target shooter’s rifle.

Gallagher said Leo Berry of Olympic Street in Aberdeen, was shot in the right arm while directing funeral traffic at the entrance to Fern Hill Cemetery.

The shot apparently came from across the river, Gallagher said, striking Berry as he stood by the cemetery entrance.

“There has been entirely too much rifle shooting inside city limits lately, and we are going to stop it,” the chief declared.

Berry’s wound was very painful but not believed serious, attendants at the Aberdeen General Hospital said today.

Oct. 7, 1941

Aberdeen high school will play the balance of its 1941 home football games at the Hoquiam Olympic stadium, Principal R.R. Balkema announced today including the game with Kelso Friday night. Other home games this season are against Raymond, Olympia on Armistice Day and Hoquiam on Thanksgiving.

“Due to the condition of Stewart Fiend we have decided to play our home games this year at the stadium,” Balkema said.

50 years ago

Oct. 6, 1966

Down the road a piece in South Montesano, a pair of hearty Finns named Arvo and Carl Riipinen own a 120-acre potato patch that produces very unusual spuds.

They’re Finnish potatoes, and the big difference can be seen when you split one open. Their meat is yellow and they have a slightly sweet flavor that is heightened by baking.

The new breed of spuds was introduced to Southwest Washington in the 1950s by the brothers’ father who died in 1963. The elder Riipinen had been growing potatoes near South Montesano since 1927 and was known as “the potato king of Grays Harbor County.”

Oct. 7, 1966

“Hunger takes a LICKIN’ from Ranch Fried Chicken!” says an advertisement for Arctic Circle in today’s Aberdeen World.

“It’s a gourmet treat.” Two locations — 2121 Simpson in Aberdeen and 501 Simpson in Hoquiam.

25 years ago

Oct. 6, 1991

Many years of Montesano memories have passed into history.

Fred M. Easter is dead at age 87.

He was more than just a mayor, more than a businessman and civic volunteer, according to friends and family. He had the talent for being at the heart of things. He was chairman of the East County Red Cross when the first blood bank donation was made there more than 40 years ago. In his own truck, he drove the first 100 pints of blood to Centralia and placed them on the train for Portland.

Starting in 1935, Easter owned a painting and interior decorating store in Elma, and he did not retire until he was 82.

Oct. 7, 1991

• Thirteen might be an unlucky number in some cases but not for the families who live in Aberdeen’s Sunrise Court apartments.

A $692,000 rehabilitation project arranged through Neighborhood Housing Services has transformed a block of seven dilapidated, rat-infested houses into 13 clean, charming and safe rental units for low-income housing,

Billie Mac Farlane, NHS director since last October, shudders when she thinks about the condition of the homes on East Market and East First streets right next to the NHS offices.

“One time I got a call from a grade school teacher telling me that one of the kids who lived there had gotten bitten by a rat — in the face!”

All that’s changed now.

• The risk of a reservoir in Aberdeen and Hoquiam collapsing like Centralia’s did over the weekend is extremely remote, officials in both cities say.

Aberdeen Public Works Director Bob Salmon and Hoquiam City Engineer Fran Eide say the in-ground reservoirs in their cities undergo routine inspections for such things as leaks and silt buildup.

The Centralia reservoir that cracked, collapsed and sent millions of gallons cascading down residential streets is the same type as the 1920s reservoirs in Aberdeen.

Compiled from the archives of The Daily World by Karen Barkstrom