Looking Back Through the pages of the Wapakoneta Daily News

100 YEARS AGO, MAY 19, 1922

The 50th annual reunion of the Wapakoneta High School alumni association is being announced by the officers of the organization. The golden jubilee of the graduates of the

school will be held this year in the Eagle Hall in the Gunther building, honoring the class

of 1922, on the evening of May26. Special effort is to be made by the program committee to make this event of unusual interest because

it marks the completion of a half century since the first two classes got together in the spring

of 1872. There have been years during the history of the association when interest lagged to

such an extent that for periods of two or three years the receptions for incoming classes were not held. During the last 20 or more years, however, the alumni reception has been an annual event. The association now claims in excess of a thousand members.

„ Gratifying press notices have been received by R.D. Macdonald from his son, Donald Macdonald, who is appearing this week in “The Acquittal,” at one of the Indianapolis theaters. Member of the fact that the son of the local jeweler would appear in the lead role of this play was made last week. The press accounts of the show are pleasing, particularly with reference to the part taken by Mr. Macdonald, who is cast as a newspaper reporter who discovered the real murderer and “crushes the villain to

earth.” It is a peach of a play, which the Stuart Walker stock company is presenting, the critics agree.

„ About 40 feet of guard rail along the state road east of St. Johns was torn down yesterday

afternoon at a point three miles east of the village where the road is banked with steep slopes on each side, when a heavy White 5-ton truck, owned by J.H. Stover, of Columbus Grove, toppled over against it. The truck is used on conveying gravel from the St. Johns gravel pit to

the road construction work being done south of New Hampshire….

„ Auto Bus Line, Wapakoneta to Russell Point—daily and Sunday during Summer.

Starting May 27. Capacity, 25. Comfortable Bus. Will leave Western Ohio station daily at 4 pm. Returning, will leave Russell Point at 11:30 pm. Round trip—75 cents

75 YEARS AGO, MAY 19, 1947

„ A forced landing, the reason for which is still undetermined, occurred here last evening at 6:45 with damage to the craft, but a

safe landing for the polit and one passenger. Richard Evans of Lima, holder of a commercial pilot’s license, and Miss Ann Pangle, a junior at Blume high school, were unhurt when Evans was forced to land in a field on the Cliff Met farm, tree miles east of Wapakoneta, when the plane refused to climb after being flown

at a reportedly low altitude. Damage to the plane resulted when, in taxiing to a stop, the

ship crashed through two fences. The plane, an Aeronca trainer, is one belonging to Koneta Airport, where the damage is estimated at $250.

50 YEARS AGO, MAY 19, 1972

„ A lovely spring tea was recently held at Centennial Elementary for the six retiring teachers of the Wapakoneta Public School System, sponsored by the Wapakoneta Education Association and the Board of Education. The six

honored guests and their years of service were: Rayda Bailey (26); Yvonne Cannon (46); Eugene Hemlphill (35); Charlotte Brown (30); Margaret Haynes (16); and Mildred Hager (27). The committee responsible for this lovely tea was Ruby Long and Minnie Tieben, co-chairmen; Connie Campbell, Willa Juane Carmean, Helen Copeland, Lucille Gritzmaker, Dorothy Howe, Jessie Ankerman, Twila Nihiser, Genuera Lanning, and Mary Jo Bickart.

„ The F5D jet used by Neil at the Edwards Flight Research Center in California will arrive at the Neil Armstrong Museum this Sunday at approximately 9 am. It will be trucked

here from Wright-patterson AFB. Upon arrival it will be placed on a specially constructed elevated concrete pad outside the museum. The F5D was one of only four built by Douglas Aircraft. It was retired in 1970.

25 YEARS AGO, MAY 19, 1997

„ A house owned by the Wapakoneta City Schools’ board of education and located in Harmon Park, was set ablaze to provide training

exercises for firefighters from the Wapakoneta fire department.

„ The talents of the children in the Wapakoneta City School District were highlighted

during the Breakfast Optimists and Noon Optimists’ annual Run for the Health of It. Medals and trophies were awarded to the students who could run, jump, throw, and kick the farthest and fastest in their age groups.