75 Years Ago—1950
The Jamestown Methodist Church, which had its beginning when the Reverend Charles Rose began preaching in a dugout in 1872, was celebrating its 78th anniversary… Al Miner was the new meat cutter at the Cook grocery store… Sue Shirling, Berton Gillan, Kay Clark, and John Barber, Concordia high school students, spent the weekend at sorority and fraternity houses in Lawrence and Manhattan… Concordia Drive-in, the new drive-in theater north of Concordia, had its grand opening on April 20. “Renegades,” starring Evelyn Keyes, Willard Parker, Larry Parks and Edgar Buchanan, was the opening program. Manager of the new theater was Carl Lowrey, who was also manager of the Strand, and Steve Orchard was the projectionist. Admission 50c-14c. Upcoming shows included “The Story of Seabiscuit,” “Adventures of Gallant Bess,” and “A Forbidden Love!”… Frank Trude went fishing on Buffalo creek and hooked a queer looking fish known as a Moon Eye, or Golden Eye, a bony fish not recommended for tasty eating… Miss Lillian Demars and Miss Barbara LeSage of Aurora gave a bridal shower for Miss Reta Lee Letourneau at the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Alcid Letourneau in Aurora… Boogaart’s was selling a box of blueing flakes for 10 cents… circulars advertising the final amateur boxing match of the season, held at the Washington grade school gymnasium, were distributed by airplane over Concordia…
60 Years Ago—1965
Dallas Nading and Fred DeArmond purchased The Kansan, weekly Concordia newspaper, from the estate of the late Ralph B. Davies… one of the Kansas State university journalism students who were initiated into Sigma Delta Chi, national journalism honor society, was Brad Lowell of Concordia… the barber shop of Ray Lindsey and Earl Campton had moved from the Ben Bolt building to a new location at 223 West Sixth Street, formerly occupied by Merritt Washer… entry blanks for girls to enter the Dairy Princess contest were available at the Concordia Chamber of Commerce… Benedict Torrez’s Spanish students from Concordia high school, Jim Beckman, Ron Joler, David Hanson, Sherrie Erhardt, Elizabeth Daugherty and Jim Wentz, were in Lawrence at a meeting of Spanish students and teachers… Joe Erickson entered into a contract with Sears to construct a building in Concordia at the corner of Sixth and Cedar streets, to be occupied by a Sears retail store… Mr. and Mrs. Charles Laman celebrated their golden anniversary… the Santa Fe train set a fire just south of Huscher, burning three piles of new ties besides some right-of-way and meadow… Concordia high school successfully defended its league track title to retain the NCKL crown… Kenneth King, a senior at Glasco high school, had been awarded a scholarship to Harvard university… eighty women attended the Concordia Women’s Bowling association dinner. Miss Bea Bonneau, Miss Laura Grittman and Mrs. Ida Thompson were honored for 25 years of bowling in Concordia… Miss Nita Culley had been named secretary-treasurer of the class of 1966 at Kansas Wesleyan university…
50 Years Ago—1975
Jennifer Ostrum, eighth grader at Concordia junior high school, won the Cloud County spelling contest at Glasco and would represent the county at the All-Kansas Spelling Bee in Topeka… USD 333 Board of Education awarded the gasoline bid to the lowest bidder, Bud’s Midwestern Tires, at a price of 43.5 cents per gallon… Mr. and Mrs. Bob Demanett celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary… Mr. and Mrs. Larry Chartier, Ames, announced the birth of their son, Ronald Joseph, on April 3… the Panther freshman track squad won its own invitational, and had five first-place finishers: Barry Boardman, Charlie Mitchell, Brian Sorell and Kirk Cailtieux, medley relay team; Barry Boardman, long jump; Mark Collette, javelin; Scott Bowersox, two-mile run; Jeff Easter, half mile… at an election held at the K of C hall in Aurora, John Nicholas was elected mayor, Meldon Breault, Dale Demars, Ronnie Stolzenberg, Jan Detrixhe and Ray Charbonneau were the councilmen… Debbie Haynes, 21, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gene Haynes of Concordia, made history at the Wichita State University when she was elected president of the Student Government Association, only the second woman ever to become president of the association… Kenneth Johnson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Johnson, Concordia, was licensed by the Baptist church, enabling him to administer baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and officiate at funerals and weddings … Kayleen Lewis, sophomore at Kansas State University, had been chosen to be on the first Wild Kittens’ Softball team at the university…
25 Years Ago—2000
Winners in the poetry contest sponsored by the Frank Carlson Library in honor of National Poetry Month, were Crystal Lassen, Rachelle Selby, Amy Mick, Rascheal Letourneau and Hilary McNichols… Julie Isaacson had been selected as Concordia High School Student of the Month for April… fifth grade students at Concordia Middle School participated in Earth Day activities and decorated paper grocery sacks with environmental messages. The sacks were then used by shoppers at Grand Central IGA… included in the musical selections performed by fourth graders at Concordia Elementary School’s program “Cloud County in History & Song,” was Cole Parker’s “Don’t Fence Me In,” the theme song for prisoners who lived at Camp Concordia during World War II… Nick Gerard, student at CHS, won a trip to Nashville, Tenn., for achievement on a test on Cooperative Basics given to vocational agricultural students throughout the state… Jene Rapp, Wichita, donated “Baby Joy,” one of the many porcelain dolls she had created since she began making dolls in 1994, to Concordia’s 20th Annual Unique Auction… David Sprague, Concordia, placed fourth in the 69kg weight class in the 35-40 division of the 2000 Veterans National Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas… at the Chapter AO of P.E.O. April meeting, Margo Hosie showed some children’s books she had written and illustrated… the boys from the Concordia Gymnastics Center, John Fuchs, Corbin Larson, Dalton Fraser, Jacob Fuchs and Benton Coons, won a first-place team trophy at the AAU State Gymnastics Meet… Panther vaulters took first place at the Marysville track meet: Greg Smith won the boys’ pole vault with a height of 12-3. Heather Hodgins took first after clearing 7-6 in the girls’ division…
10 Years Ago—2015
Neighbor to Neighbor celebrated its fifth birthday… “Paws”itive Counts winners at Concordia Middle School for April/May were Abby Valeka, fifth grade, and Wyatt Barleen, sixth grade… winning two straight matches, Concordia High School’s Devin Kymer placed first in number one singles in the Chapman junior varsity tennis triangular… CHS baseball team improved to 6-0 in the North Central Kansas League… CHS senior Autumn Zimmerman signed a letter-of-intent for debate and vocal music at Kansas Wesleyan University…
5 Years Ago—2020
More than 100 Unified School District 333 faculty and staff members took part in a caravan through the streets of Concordia and were greeted by students and family members holding signs… Rachelle Anderson had been selected as Concordia High School Student of the Month for May…
