/ 100 years ago, continued from pg. 1C

Monday, Aug. 27, 1962

Wednesday, Aug. 29, 1962

Disillusioned Russian girl wants to go home

SAN FRANCISCO (UPI) – Maria Sikorski, her life filled with famine and war on one continent and disillusionment on another, is going home to the Ukraine.

Dark-haired, dark-eyed Maria came to the United States as a displaced person 11 years ago, when she was 25.

Now, two husbands and a successful television and modeling career later, she wants to go back to her homeland.

“At first I liked it here very much,” she said. “But in the last few years I found that nobody gives a damn, and if you’re broke, you’re stuck.

“When I came to this country I was a bright-eyed girl — I wanted to give and I wanted to earn my place. Now I belong at home.”

Maria’s first memories are of famine in the Ukraine in the 1930s. During World War II, while still in her teens, she was arrested by the Germans. After the war she was raped by a Czech soldier; a child born out of wedlock was kidnapped.

In 1947 she managed to get from Czechoslovakia into the American zone of Germany. She later married a Pole and together they came to San Francisco in 1951.

The couple moved to southern California a year later, and in 1954 the marriage ended in divorce. She met her second husband – “he was such a cleancut American boy” — in Los Angeles, but once again, the marriage didn’t work. Her divorce becomes final in April.

She sought advice from church and medical organizations in California, she said, but “no one was interested.”

Conceding that her decision to return to the Ukraine might be used for propaganda purposes by the Russians, she added:

“This is why I want to tell my story before I go home. I wish only that Americans would develop and express more kindness and understanding toward each other so that they can understand us.”

She said the Soviet government has guaranteed her transportation home.

East, Model drilling for Saturday’s tilt

While most of the gridiron action will take place Friday, East Rome and Model will not make their bows until Saturday night at Barron Stadium with both teams promising something new in the football picture.

Coach Wallace Wilkinson has been optimistic throughout the early weeks of practice and has even placed the present band of Gladiators ahead of the 1961 squad at this time last year.

Meanwhile, Coach Ralph Tuggle has been more or less “singing the blues” about his young club. However, he hasn’t turned away in disgust for the youngsters are proving to be fine footballers and could prove very tough.

The work of Dudley Rush at the quarterback slot has been the bright spot for Coach Wilkinson as he has demonstrated a great knack for hitting the target in serial drills. Rush’s ability to handle a team under fire is another factor that ensures the Glads of a poised attack.

There’s no doubt that Gene Knowles, 165-pound halfback, will always be a threat to offense and is a real terror when the opponents have the ball. His running ability has taken a sharp upturn since the beginning of fall practice and he could be the key to the Gladiators’ running attack.

However, Knowles will have plenty of help in the offensive attack with Steve Port, with Eddie Godfrey and Charles Griffin furnishing plenty of extra fireworks.

In the line, Coach Wilkinson has a real battle-royal going at the tackle spots with Harvey Bass and Walter Vaughn making life rough for regulars Bobby Brownlow and Gene Fowler.

Meanwhile, Dennis Jacobs, Mackey McDonald, Clifford Cormany, George Copeland and Ronnie Youngblood are expected to supply the man-power for the interior portion of the line.

With Rush passing with precision, Phil Milam, Ronnie Hicks, Ben Lucas, Mike Anthony and David Bowen may be kept busy snagging serial tosses.

Although Model has a comparatively young team, Coach Tuggle is well blessed with a number of experienced lads capable of playing hard-nose football.

Five seniors may hold the key to success for the Blue Devils: Jimmy Maynor, who transferred from quarterback to end, Tommy Mitchell, fullback, tackles Gerald Sargent and Jerry Lawhorne and halfback Joe House.

However, many of these boys may be on the verge of losing their starting job to some youngsters and Coach Tuggle is placing a strong emphasis on youth during this year.

He stated that some 13 sophomores would have a big hand in the Blue Devils’ plan this year in an effort to have a team for the future.

Tuggle isn’t looking too far in the future at the moment, because he realizes that Model has a big job on hand in tangling with Class AA East Rome and Calhoun before meeting arch-rival Pepperell.

Ralph Davis, junior halfback, and Flip Latimer, sophomore quarterback, may get the starting no along with Joe House and Mitchell in the backfield to give a split view of the youth being installed in a major role.

If things should work right, then Tuggle could easily have an allsophomore backfield.

Thursday, Aug. 30, 1962

Janelle Kirtley billed in Cherokee ski show

CENTRE, Ala. – Top performers from over the south will be on hand for the first annual Cherokee County Ski Show on Labor Day, the event being jointly sponsored by the Centre Junior Chamber of Commerce and the Cherokee Rescue Squad.

The event will be staged off Highway 411 between Leesburg and the Etowah County line, beginning at 1 p.m. (CST) with an entire afternoon of trick skiing, slalom skiing, skiing clowns and kite riding.

A special attraction will be a pretty water acrobat, Miss Janelle Kirtley, winner of the National Girl’s Ski Championship in 1960 and a member of the United States Ski Team taking part in the World’s Tournament Activities in 1961. Miss Kirtley not only holds the national girl’s championship at the Masters Ski Tournament in Ida Cason Calloway Gardens in Georgia and the southern championship at Cypress Gardens, Fla., in recent months.

Janelle’s brother, Bob, also is an outstanding performer on water skis.

Janelle and Bob’s mother, Mrs. Leona Kirtley, an outstanding skier and amateur instructor says that Janelle and Bob’s schedule call for five hours daily practice on the skis. “I wonder how many gallons of gas I’ve burned and how many motors I wore out pulling those kids behind the boat,” she said.

Not only will visitors see the outstanding performances of Janelle and Bob Kirtley but will also witness outstanding exhibitions by the Century club and the Warrior Ski Club of Birmingham and the Cypress Garden Stars.

as presented in the Fifty Years Ago column in the August 30, 1962 edition of the Rome News-Tribune

The board of county commissioners took the first step toward moving the county chain gang — lock, stock and barrel – into Rome for four months of street work this week a half century ago.

The first work was to be the paving of East Second Avenue to the city limits and also to extend the paving on North Broad Street, and if tie allowed, West Fifth Avenue paving was to be completed to the city limits. *** Romans read that Congress closed another billion dollar season following a lengthy filibuster, the total appropriations for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1912, being $1,195,000,000. Repairmen examining the furnishings of the House of Representatives discovered that Speaker Champ Clark used the gavel with such effect during the previous months that one entire section had been pulled away. … The postmaster general announced that the department in January 1913 would put into general operation the recently authorized parcel post system, which was to extend over millions of miles. … The Floyd County delegation to the state Democratic convention included J.S. Crawford, Sap Reese, Ed Maddox, Harry Meikeleham, C.S. Gossett and Tom Salmon. … *** A tree near the residence of Cicero Hammond in Armuchee was struck by lightning, the bolt passing through a window of the house and demolishing a bed on which two of his little children were sleeping. The children were not harmed in the least, but Mrs. Hammond, standing nearby, was slightly shocked. … Charles J. Ogles, Lindale correspondent of the TribuneHerald, while riding his bicycle between Lindale and Boozeville, was struck by a boy, Jerry Jolly, riding the handlebars of his bicycle, and both landed 15 feet farther up the road, sustaining bruises.

This accident broke Mr. Ogles’ record of never having a fall in 15 years. … J. M. Jones lost a fine $250 mule in a runaway. One of his men was driving a hay-wagon out Summerville Pike when the tongue chain broke, throwing the wagon against the team and breaking the animal’s leg. … Ernest Pullen, 15, who lived on the Rounsaville farm on the Lindale Road, broke his arm when the mule he was riding from the field became frightened at a train and ran away. …