Pomeroy Pioneer Portraits

Ten Years Ago

December 26, 2012

The annual Christmas program at Pomeroy Elementary School featured Kindergarten students singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas"; grade 1 students singing "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer"; grade 2 students singing "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"; grade 3 students singing "Christmas Don't be Late"; grade 4 students singing "Must be Santa"; grade 5 students singing "Nuttin' for Christmas"; and grade 6 students singing "Joy to the World". Program coordinators expressed much gratitude to Rev. Dan Lewis for bringing his sound equipment to the school for the Christmas program. They also thanked him for teaching students the holiday songs and for playing piano.

The Pirate girls earned their first win with a 40-37 victory over Dayton at home Dec. 20. Coach Nettie Severs said the team "played with a lot of heart," and used a 14-6 scoring advantage in the third quarter to build a lead. "Each of the girls contributed tonight," Severs said. Playing were Emily Wolf, Emily Jentz with 8 points, Torrie Koller 9, Ireland Mayfield 6, Savannah Ruark 4, and Mackenzie Monahan 13.

Twenty-Five Years Ago

December 31, 1997

Pomeroy High School senior Jessica Warren will be in Pullman on Sunday, Jan. 4, along with the other 33 girls from across the state who will compete in the 1997 Washington Junior Miss pageant. The 40th annual state program will feature preliminary competition Thursday and Friday and the final program on Saturday.

Pomeroy native Donner Buchet, son of the late Claude and Eva Buchet, and his wife Sharon, have a unique decoration in their Rockville, Md., home. It's the original 15-foot sign at the east county line marking the Lewis-Clark route through the area. Donner tells the story in a letter he included with the photograph of the sign-wall in their home: Sometime in the late '60s or '70s, I read in the EW about the improvements that were being made to U.S. Highway 12 down through the Alpowa to the Snake River. Figuring that something was probably going to happen to the sign that had been a landmark throughout my childhood, marking the Buchet's hundreds of trips to and from Lewiston and Clarkston, I called my mother and asked her to talk with the State Highway Department about the sign's future. Mom convinced the Department to save the sign, and stored it in the Pataha maintenance yard until we could retrieve it about a month later. It is now a wonderful, constant reminder of the Inland Empire and also serves as a history lesson for visitors to our home.

Fifty Years Ago

December 28, 1972

Jack Denny, Pomeroy School District No. 110 school bus driver, treated his 32 passengers to hamburger and soft drinks at the Kozy Korner last Friday. It was not the first time he had done this in his 21½ years as a driver, but it had special significance in that it marked the last day of his bus driving career. Beginning Jan. 1, Denny will be a full time ambulance driver as well as a hospital employee. Denny, driver on the long Mayview route for many years, noted that when he started the buses weren't as good, and the roads were nowhere near as good. Of the 50 miles a day he now drives, only a few miles are on gravel roads. In those earlier days most of the roads were dirt.

Thursday, Dec. 28, is a national day of mourning for President Harry S. Truman, 88, who passed away at 5:50 a.m. Pacific Standard Time Tuesday in Kansas City, Mo. President Nixon ordered the day of mourning and ordered that all flags on public buildings be lowered to half-staff for 30 days. In conjunction, the post office in Pomeroy has been ordered closed and will offer decreased services Thursday.

Seventy-Five Years Ago

January 1, 1948

Alfred Kucklick, technician, fifth grade, with the army of occupation in Japan for the past year, arrived in Pomeroy Sunday to visit relatives and friends. He left Tuesday for Spokane to spend New Year's Day with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. August Kucklick. Al is the youngest of the four Kucklick brothers who have served their country: Frederick, Steve and Robert serving in the latest world war. Frederick is a chief petty officer in the navy, Steve and Robert having been honorably discharged. Al stated that four other Pomeroy boys should return home from Japan soon.

Gaiety was the keynote as Garfield County citizens observed the passing of the old year with a variety of celebrations. Churches had scheduled watch parties Wednesday evening. A dance at the Maple Hall was sponsored by the Jaycees, while many families celebrated the arrival of the new year with friends at home parties.

One Hundred Years Ago

December 30, 1922

Writing in the essay contest of Congressman John W. Summers, on "Why Every Boy and Girl Should Grow a Garden," Opal Hull, 18, of the Falling Springs school, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J.N. Hull, and Ella Miller, 12, of the 8th Grade Pomeroy school, received favorable mention. In a letter to school teachers announcing that the contest will be continued, Dr. Summers, in part, said: 'When we encourage boys and girls to stir the soil, to plant and cultivate a small garden of their own, and in this way come in closer touch with nature, I believe we do them and the community a real service."

If Christmas cheer failed to reach every home in Garfield County this year, it was not the fault of the several committees representing various organizations which have been diligently exploiting the field to place gifts where there was the slightest possibility that Old Santa's white whiskers and wig would not be seen. Following the somewhat lavish distribution of gifts by the lodges and churches and schools, the K. of P. lodge, through its committee composed of H.A. Adams, E.E. Powell and W.J. Sission, in charge of sums aggregating $100, saw to it that the children should not be disappointed.