The Leigh World publishes a weekly column entitled Looking Back at the World, which is comprised of articles taken from earlier Leigh World files. A special thank you to the Leigh World for allowing me to reprint those articles. The following are selections from that column:
September 19, 1941 - reprinted June 28, 1995Ed Callies and Rudolph Korte, who were named a committee to investigate the organization of a bind weed district in Platte county, have called a meeting of interested farmers to be held at the K.P. Hall at Creston next Monday evening.
At this meeting the territory and the boundary lines are to be established and hence all farmers, not only in Creston Township, but also neighboring townships should attend the meeting.
It is expected that several men of authority on the bind weed eradication will be present to discuss the matter.Dinner guests at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Thos. Hekrdle Sunday, were Mr. and Mrs. Wm Fuhr, Mr. and Mrs. Adam Fuhr and sons, Mr. and Mrs. Joe Hekrdle and Thomas, Mr. and Mrs. Fred W. Severin, Mr. and Mrs. Lad Houdek and children, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Houdek and Miss Bertha Sayers.
The Leigh high school Panthers will open its nine game football schedule, Friday night, meeting Creston at 8:00 p.m.
The lights that are now being installed will be used for all home games except the last one with St. Edward which will be played in the afternoon in November.
Coach Elwin Langhoff has a squad of 18 to 24 boys out each night and has been working hard for the last three weeks getting them into condition.
All of last years regulars are back but fans, remembering the narrow margin by which Leigh won over Creston last year, will be assured of a good game as Crestons first team is about the same. Walter Botsch and Henry Menke of Madison, will act as referee and umpire.Mrs. Chas. R. Kuhle was taken from the hospital at Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Sunday, and placed in the Colonial hospital in Rochester, Minnesota.
Mrs. Kuhle ankle was operated on Tuesday, for the removal of a dead bone, and Dr. R.K. Ghormley, who did the surgery, assures her that she will emerge with a pretty good foot.
Mrs. Kuhle is being cared for in the Colonial hospital, and her friend, Miss Anna Evans, of Sioux Falls is remaining with her for the present.
September 26, 1941 - reprinted July 19, 1995A wedding of interest to Creston friends is that of Miss Jeanne Pennington of Columbus, and Henry J. Heinz of Hawaii, a former Creston boy, which took place September 7 in Las Vegas. The groom is a 1937 graduate of Creston High School and is in the United States Navy, stationed on the Lexington airplane carrier.
Richard Daniels of Creston received a painful injury, which resulted in the loss of the third finger of his left hand. He was loading his truck preparing to leave in the evening for Colorado, where his father is farming. Jumping off the truck, his wedding ring caught on a nail. The finger was pulled out of its socket at the knuckle and most of the flesh torn from the finger. His physician found it necessary to amputate the finger at the knuckle.
Lonnie Koch of Creston, son of Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Koch spent a few days with his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Anton Pimpara at Leigh.
Helen Thalken and Ernest Koch were united in marriage at St. Mary's Church with the Rev. Father John Maciejewski officiating. The bride is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Fred A. Thalken and the groom's parents are Mr. and Mrs. Joe Koch. Attending the couple were Helen Bahns and Theo. Koch. The couple will establish their home on a farm southwest of Creston.
Peter Claussen has re-entered Midland College as a junior, one of 34 members of his class. There are 322 students forming one of Midland's record enrollments. Claussen graduated from Leigh High School in 1939 and plans to major in business and is now taking education, sociology, biology, Spanish and speech.
A large number of relatives came to attend the funeral of Henry Schlueter, who passed away in Omaha. His body was brought here for funeral rites by Miss Emma Holmes. Funeral Services for Mr. Schlueter were held at Zion Lutheran Church. Pallbearers were Ed and Albert Franzen, R.B. Jenny, Carl Reins, Carl Mullenhoff, Jr. and Lawrence Olson. Interment was in the Leigh cemetery. He was born November 24, 1860, in Hanover, Germany, and died September 20, 1941, in Omaha at the age of 80 years. He was united in marriage to Dorothea Porath in 1887 and to this union nine children were born. He is survived by three sons and four daughters.
Irene Bahns became the bride of William Klimes of Clarkson, Saturday morning at St. Mary's Church. Miss Doris Reichmuth played the wedding marches. A wedding dinner was served at noon to the bridal party and immediate families at the Legion Club House. Table waitresses were Misses Michaelsen, Marcella Kasik, Elaine Staabe, Helen Bahns, and Mrs. Emil Faltys and Mrs. Rudolph Hobza, Jr. The bride is the second youngest daughter of Henry C. Bahns. She wore a mink brown costume suit with dark brown fur trim. She carried a prayer book, gift of the groom, and a rosary. Her corsage was of white pom-pom and carnations. Ella Bahns, sister of the bridge, was bridwmaid and Goerge Urban, a nephew of the groom, was bestman. Ushers were Henry H. Bahns and Raymond Urban. A reception and dance was held at the Clarkson ballroom in the evening. Following a brief honeymoon, the couple will farm south of Clarkson. The groom is the son of Mrs. Anna Klimes of Clarkson.
November 14, 1941 - reprinted September 6, 1995Miss Olga Lueschen became the bride of Robert Craig, of Fox Island, Sylvan, Washington, in a quiet ceremony solemnized at Salem Lutheran Church of Fremont.
The annual banquet of the Fathers and Sons was held at the Congregational church parlors with Lowell L. Walker, Columbus attorney, as the guest speaker.
What will perhaps be the largest sale in this community is that of Edward Shultz and son, who will sell their farm property on November 20. Mr. and Mrs. Shultz will quit the farm and remove themselves to Schuyler. Their son, Lumir, will soon be inducted into the army service.
"The Big Store", with the Marx Brothers and Tony Martin, is coming to the Leigh Theatre this weekend. It is heralded as the big musical production of the silver screen.
The federal government has already started purchasing land for the site of the bomb loading plant to be constructed in the vicinity of Wahoo. It is estimated that the land will cost from $100 to $165 an acre. It will take about 25,000 acres for the plant.
After taking several drubbings from the Beemer football team, Leigh turned the tables and romped over the lads down at the fairgrounds to the tune of 46-0. Every Leigh lad who saw action in the fray gave a good account of himself.
Mrs. Kate Thalken arrived here from Gillette, Wyoming, and will spend some time in the homes of Mr. and Mrs. Clyde Sucha and Mr. and Mrs. Fred B. Thalken.
The Junior Class will present "The Mystery of the Masked Girl", a three-act play for girls on November 21 at the Opera House. Admission is 15 cents and 30 cents and reserved seat tickets are available at Vaught's Pharmacy.
Fire, which is believed to have been started by their four year old son, Dick, completely consumed the barn on the Herbert Dasenbrock farm north of Creston.
Mrs. Dasenbrock heard the boy screaming in the barn and then saw smoke emanating from the building. She called to her little son to come out of the barn, but either because he was too frightened or because the smoke was too dense so that he could not see the door, he failed to respond.
She entered the barn and for moments that seemed like hours to her, she was unable to locate the lad. Then the hay blazed and the lad was silhouetted against the light and was taken out. A considerable amount of hay and straw was lost with the barn and a tiny kitten managed to escape with much of his fur burned in the blaze.
December 12, 1941 - reprinted October 11, 1995The United States was given a "Black Out" Sunday, when the usual quiet and serenity of the Sabbath was torn asunder and Japan turned loose the implements of war by dropping bombs on Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian Island, Wake Island and Manila in the Philippines on Monday. To the people of these United States it all came as a thunderbolt out of a clear sky. This is especially true of the people of the middlewest.
Locally people were shocked at the radio news of the days development on Sunday. Many of our people sat up the greater part of the night Sunday to listen to the news flashes as they were radioed around the world.
Instead of the happy smiling faces of the school children, they appeared Monday morning with serious and sober expressions and, according to Superintendent Alexis Johnson, nearly all of them asked of their teachers to take up current events as the first thing on their school program.
It was a coincidence that the Leigh Commercial Club had scheduled the members of the Colfax County Selective Service Board to appear at the Leigh opera house on Monday evening to tell of their work for the edification and enlightenment of the people of this community. A large attendance was present and never was there a more attentive audience. However, as one member of the board stated, rules we speak of today may be shot to pieces tomorrow.
People on the streets and in the shops would inquire of each other, "Have you heard the latest developments of the war?" Everyone expresses a grave concern. And thus, was the first news of the war with Japan ushered in.Sunday's World Herald carried an article concerning Miss Margaret Gorman, which is interesting to Creston people. It stated that Margaret Gorman, a teacher in the Creston school, started this year teaching the same grades in the same school, in the same town, same salary, and under the same county superintendent as did her mother, Mrs. Paul Gorman, 23 years ago.
Fern Luedtke became the bride of Charles Knight on Friday evening and Genevieve Mlinar married Charles' brother, Clarence Knight on Sunday. (That must have been a very hectic weekend for the boys' parents, Mr. and Mrs. James Knight!)
One critic says that if you are married and have an income of $2,560, you will pay a federal tax of $86, which is enough to provide rations for one soldier for 204 days and pay for his breakfast and noonday meal on the 205th day. But that will not be quite enough to pay for a mahogany settee with upholstered arms, eight round legs, seventy-eight inches long, which was delivered recently to a government office in Washington--the price: $86.14.
Smrz & Moeller was advertised as "Christmas Gift Headquarters" with gift ideas including dress shirts for $1.19, smart ties, 25 cents, genuine calf billfolds, 49 cents, suede turbans, 29 cents, and rayon bloomers, 25 cents.
December 19, 1941 - reprinted October 18, 1995Miss Jane Hunt is spending the winter months in Seattle, Washington, with her brother, Leo. In an excerpt from her letter is the following graphic description of the first blackout in Seattle on Monday night, December 8, following the Japanese invasion:
"Along with thousands of others we experienced the first 'blackout' on the west coast last night. The word says little but is fraught with an entirely different meaning when one actually experiences it... From our apartment window at eleven o'clock, last night, I watched the city of Seattle fade into darkness.
Our clock pointed two minutes to the hour. Lights blazed in every section, across Lake Union to Capitol Hill, to Queen Anne, neons challenged the few remaining seconds. Gradually lights were switched off, traffic became perceptibly slower, the dimming neons swam behind musty grey fog and a newsboy shouted "Extra" down on the corner. The minute hand jerked toward eleven and suddenly all was swathed in darkness... Today the city went back to work.
It talked about last night and nearly everyone had an amusing incident to relate. Nervously it laughed over these incidents and speculated on the coming nights.
We 650,000 strangers in Seattle have two things in common, the war and the darkness. And this happened last night, not in London, but in the United States."Dr. Chas. D. Eby spoke on "Progress that has been made in medicine and surgery in my time" before the regular meeting of the Leigh Commercial Club. He told that physicians had few instruments to work with in the first years of his practice and that research has brought about many changes in drugs during the later years.
The Leigh Theatre will show the picture of Harold Bell Wright's great story "The Shepherd of the Hills". Many have read the book and all feel this picture will be one of the screen's greatest productions. It stars John Wayne, Betty Field, and Harry Carey. The theatre will be dark on Tuesday and Wednesday, this being the Christmas season and everyone will want to be at home.
Miss Elbera Mae Husmann and Charles Hasebrok were joined in marriage at the home of the bridegroom's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Hasebrok. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Husman.