Today is April 11, the 101st day of the year. So, there are 264 days left in 2019. Below are news items from the Creston News Advertiser for this week (April 8-14) in history:
20 years ago
Four long-time Creston school staff members applied for early retirement. They included Loy Christensen - eighth grade math teacher, Jean Downey – second grade teacher, and school nurses, Sharon Booth and Janet Eilers.
As the second major tornado in four years moved through Union County, two homes were destroyed and a dozen other farmsteads were damaged, but no serious injuries were reported. The twister’s path was more than 12 miles long. The homes of Jerold Gibson, four miles southeast of Creston, and Dennis Richie, four miles east of Creston on Highway 34, were the two destroyed. There was also a lot of damage in Taylor and Adams counties, with several homes heavily damaged.
Creston’s Brian Bucklin set a new school record of a 6-foot 5-inch high jump at the Clarinda Cardinal Relays. The jump qualified him for the prestigious Drake Relays.
The manager of Creston Hy-Vee, Rick Fyock, was presented the 1999 Employer of the Year award. He was nominated by Betty Williams of Green Valley AEA 14, where Fyock served as a representative for business and industry on the AEA Transition Advisory Board and worked with many students in the area.
50 years ago
Congressman John Kyl and representatives of seven agencies broke ground for the Three-Mile Creek watershed project at the William McKee farm in Adair County. About 150 people attended the ceremony where one of five structures in the first construction phase of the project was to be built.
In an article from 1969, Americans were spending a larger portion of their lives in retirement. A man averaged only three years of retirement life in 1900, the figure had nearly doubled to six by 1950 and by the year 2000, it is expected to be nine years.
A new vocational-technical program to train practical nurses was planned by Southwestern Community College and Greater Community Hospital to start by fall. Approval from the Iowa Board of Nursing and Iowa Department of Public Instruction had been received. The training was about 11 months in length with a maximum of 20 students for the first course.
Vital statistics for March 1969 had reports of 24 births in the county and 19 deaths, according to Eldon L. (Bid) Breese, clerk of district court. Four marriages were performed and three divorces were granted in district court.
D.V. Richardson, administrator of Greater Community Hospital, spoke to the Kiwanis Club about the tornadoes that struck Charles City and Oelwein on May 15, 1968, causing deaths and destruction. He said there was need in Creston for a volunteer organization to be set up to serve as security personnel for the hospital in case of a local disaster. They would help people needing attention get to the proper areas of the hospital.
Schildberg Construction Company in Greenfield announced the appointment of Larry Dahl as the Aglime sales representative for the Adair, Adams and Union counties.
Ad for Earl May Garden Center grand opening planned more than $350 in prizes to be given away including a pedigreed poodle pup with bed, collar and grooming accessories, Toro lawn mover with finger tip start, one bushel of Maygold hybrid corn and Mayway brand alfalfa. Also, part of the celebration was free popcorn for everyone, free balloons for the kids and a free Everlasting Rosebud for the ladies.
