Column - 1961: Navratil is Betty Crocker Homemaker of Tomorrow

Talk about it

The following is a collection of stories and other items that were included in Alexandria newspapers over the years.

100 YEARS AGO

February 1911

The Department of Agriculture class at Alexandria High School has been selected by the state to test seed corn. Fifty farmers are asked to bring in 100 ears of corn for testing. Several kernels from each will be tested and a report will be sent out as to their good or bad germination quality… Crystal Theater will give a silver teaspoon with the purchase of five tickets. Buy 30 tickets for a complete set… George McMahan of Hudson exhibited 10 ears of his Minnesota 13 corn in competition for northern Minnesota and came home with a short-horned bull for being the winner… Authorities are looking for the culprits who vandalized the Thompson cottage on Lake L’Homme Dieu, the home for deaf mutes.

50 YEARS AGO

February 1961

Joan Olson, Miss Alexandria, will join 24 other queens in a four-day salute to the St. Paul Winter Carnival… Alexandria’s Woody Wilson became the bronze winner of the Master Anglers by successfully landing a 9 pound 11 ounce walleye during that association’s fishing contest in Canada… Ruth Navratil was named the 1961 Betty Crocker Homemaker of Tomorrow at Jefferson High School, making her eligible for state competition in March… Mavis Kimball of Evansville has been promoted to supervise hostess training for Continental Airlines… Playing at the Andria Theater is Cinderfella with Jerry Lewis, Ed Wynn and Anna Maria Albergetti. The double feature at the State Theater is Sky Troop Attack and The Battle of Blood Island.

25 YEARS AGO

February 1986

Brad and Sue Dumm have taken over ownership of “From the Heart,” formerly named Marquee II. Sue is an elementary school teacher and Brad is former manager at Alex Glass and Paint… Douglas County area legislators are unhappy about the proposed Minnesota lottery, while 73 percent of older adults are in favor… Several weeks ago, Domke’s Fleet Supply dropped his gas price to $1.14 – and thus the price war began. Alexandria has 24 gas stations and one by one, the price goes down. On January 29, the price for self-serve regular fell to 93.3 cents a gallon… The Mary Lund Bowl-a-Thon at the Kensington Alley raised $4,000 for medical expenses involving her heart transplant… Former Osakis resident Dr. William Fezler will appear on CNN to promote  a book he co-wrote entitled The Good Girl Syndrome.

10 YEARS AGO

February 2001

After hours of microscopic study, epigrapher Janey Westin is convinced that the Runestone is 99.9 percent authentic and that it was carved in 1362. The markings indicate that four different chisels were used and crudely done by a person accustomed to writing, yet not accustomed to carving… Echo Press earned 10 awards in the Minnesota Newspaper Association contest, the most it has won in 20 years… Pastor Jake Dyrhaug, former pastor at Grace Lutheran in Brandon, will perform the “Flight of the Bumblebee” while wearing fishing gloves during a benefit concert for the Brandon High School Band trip to Disney World… Chuck Nettestad will conduct a Citizen’s Police Academy beginning next week as a way to inform the public that his department is more than eating doughnuts and making traffic stops.

Marge Van Gorp of Alexandria is a regular contributing columnist to the Echo Press Opinion page.

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