March 1936

George Carmen, known best by his Indian name, died at Neillsville Hospital, Monday evening March 2, aged 82 years.

George Greengrass was one of the oldest Winnebagos in this vicinity, having been born on the banks of Black River, south of Neillsville, and living in this locality all of his life.  He had a peculiarly genial disposition and was well liked by all who knew him.  He was also in his way very religious.  In the summer of 1934, when the drought was at its worst, he told the writer that his memory ran back over 70 years, and he had never seen so destructive a drought.  He held to the theory that mankind, especially the white race, had become so puffed up with the pride of their accomplishment and had forgotten their dependence upon God that the drought had been sent to humble their pride.

His wife died a good many years ago.  A son, James Carmen, who served overseas and was gassed on the battlefield, came home and died a few years later, leaving a widow and little son who survive the grandfather.  Government insurance left by James Carmen to his father has kept him in comfortable circumstances.

Burial took place in the Indian Cemetery near Dells Dam Wednesday afternoon, the Indian ceremony being used.

Respecting Mr. Greengrass’ wishes, his body was wrapped in deerskins and a hole made through the rough box and coffin through which the spirits can enter with food.  The funeral rites include four days of feasting, friends of Mr. Greengrass assembling each evening to feast at sundown and eulogize his memory.  On the fourth evening, the feast and services last all night with the men playing cards and other games while the women spend the evening visiting.

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Thursday, as a son of Joe McKimm of Pine Valley was driving a team down Court Street, about opposite the home of Mrs. Louis Hemp, one of the horses suddenly went down into a hole, which broke through in the street.  Water at once gushed out of the hole, which was so deep the horse was unable to climb out.

The wrecker from the Ford garage was called, some cables borrowed from Ben Frantz were made into a sling, and the horse was hoisted out of the hole, not badly injured.

The hole in the three-quarter inch water pipe was only about three-eighths of an inch in diameter and had rusted through from the outside, sending a stream of water no larger than a lead pencil into the surrounding earth and dug a cavern large enough to hold a horse.

A crew worked several days repairing the leak.                                    

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All business and professional men interested in playing volleyball are asked to meet at the high school gym Tuesday March 16, at 7:30.  Bring basketball, tennis or bowling shoes.                        

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Potatoes, U. S. No. 1 Extra Fancy, 95¢ per bushel

Also Wanted, Gunny Sacks will pay 5¢ each at H. H. Van Gorden & Sons Feedmill Neillsville.

(The younger generation probably doesn’t know what “gunny sacks” are.  Years ago, when living on the family far, everyone in the family was expected to contribute in some way or other with the many chores that had to be done.  At an early age, one of my chores was to be with my dad when he filled the gunny sacks, which were made of a coarse heavy fabric of jute or hemp, measuring about 24” by 36”.  I held the sack open as dad filled it with grain, a scoop-shovel-full at a time until the sack was nearly full, the top portion of the sack was then gathered and tied with a piece of twine.  The filled sacks were loaded on a trailer or wagon, which were then hauled to a nearby feedmill where the grain was ground, to be hauled back to the farm as feed for the dairy cows; a small scoop of ground feed was poured top of each cow’s ration of silage, which was like desser3t to them, but mainly it increased milk production.

Modernization of farming methods basically eliminated the use of “gunny sacks.” DZ)

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W. A. Campman walked out of his house the other morning all dressed up except for a necktie.  In the turmoil of getting himself ready for the day’s work, he forgot to slip his necktie over his head.  At any rate he was down in the “heart of the city” when he discovered his Adam’s apple was getting chilled and he reached up to see what happened to his weather stripping.  To his amazement he found he was absent his tie.

Upon making that pertinent discovery Mr. Campman walked faster and locked himself in his office to work out a solution.  Finally he hit on the idea of making himself a paper necktie and emerged a half-hour later wearing a strange looking attachment to his collar, which looked like a cross between a partridge’s tail and a bookmark.

Mr. Campman wore it until noon and then hurried home to put on his regular neck decorations.

Jeff Schuster, who had to sit in the office all morning and look at the tie, said he was positive the paper necktie idea would never assume the proportions of a craze.                                              

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James Fradette, county treasurer, last week mailed 167 checks aggregating $82,437 to school district treasurers of Clark County, this amount having just been received from the state as aid to elementary schools.  Formerly the county treasurer paid these payments to town treasurers, but the 1935 legislature changed the law, Chap. 263, requiring county treasurers to turn the money over directly to school district treasurers.

As fast as the town treasurers settle with the county treasurer within the next couple of weeks, the county school aid checks will be sent out to all these district treasurers. These amounts are $250 for each elementary school or for each grade school.

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Ford car sales at the Seif & Byse Sales Co. the past two weeks include a 4-door Ford Sedan to E. Elmhurst of the Town of York; a 2-door sedan to John Estick of Willard; a 2-door touring car to Joe Spangler of Heintown; a 4-door Ford Sedan to Dr. E. A. Peterson; and 2-door Ford sedans to Hugh Haight, Atty. A. P. Murphy and Byrl Rowe, and a Ford pickup to Forest Calway.                                                                                      

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Tuesday morning, a truck driven by Herbert Olson and carrying a big load of logs enroute to Marshfield, broke an axle at the crossing of Hewett and Fifth Streets.  The load consisting of green hardwood and oak, elm and basswood, was estimated by H. M. Root to weigh 18 tons.                                               

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A 35¢ Pancake Supper will be held at the I.O.O.F. Lodge Hall, Neillsville, Saturday, March 28, beginning at 6 o’clock.

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Mrs. Julius Lenz, who lives six and a-half miles south of Neillsville, was a caller at the Press office Monday, having walked to the city, as has been her custom for the past six weeks during the bad roads and sub-zero temperatures.  Mrs. Lenz has walked in every Saturday to do her shopping during January and February, and several times, being unable to catch a ride home, walked back carrying between 25 and 30 pounds of groceries.  One morning it was 25 degrees below zero when she walked in.

March 1956

Those from Loyal who attended the 6:30 supper given by the Wuethrich Creamery Co., in Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Greenwood, Saturday evening for employees and their wives were Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Collins, Mr. and Mrs. Harold Dahl, Mr. and Mrs. Orville Greene, Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Dusso, Mr. and Mrs. Burnell Yaeger, Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Zimmerman and Mr. and Mrs. Jake Henseler.                                    

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Two army helicopters following two weather balloons released that morning in Minneapolis settled to earth in the Town of York shortly after 2 o’clock Tuesday afternoon, giving a sizable gathering of curious an opportunity to examine the modern-day “wind-mills.”

The copters came down with the weather balloons, one landing on the Dahl Bros. farm, between their buildings and those of Jack Seefeldt; the second landed near the Merry Vale School, on the Loren Hales farm.

The pilots remained in the area until about 4:30 p.m. before taking off on their return trip to Minneapolis.

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Art Flynn, who has served as janitor of the Neillsville High School for the last 28 years, is heading toward partial retirement.  Last week Thursday, he started training Ray Reineck of Neillsville to take over the head janitor position.  Mr. Flynn will remain with Mr. Reineck for the remainder of this month and then will serve part-time on the night shift.

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Pvt. Frederick Grap, who has been stationed in Hawaii, landed in the United States Friday and was a Saturday overnight guest of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Grap, Sr., and also his brother, Ronald.  He expects his discharge from the army this week.                                                                                     

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With the worst blizzard in modern history behind it, Clark County and its residents were digging out early this week after a 4-day period, which saw 19 inches of snow fall, topped off by the granddaddy of them all Saturday night, a 10-inch wind-driven nor’easter.

Those who had looked forward to easing off after a back-breaking struggle with inches of snowfall on Thursday and Friday found themselves back on the business-end of a shovel Sunday.

Maurice Meredith, highway department superintendent, declared Saturday night’s blizzard the worst in his memory.  He recalled one other almost as bad, back in the 1930s, “but it didn’t last as long,” he said.

Highway crews fought a losing battle as the snow piled down, whipped by a strong wind.  It wasn’t the snow that licked them, they said, as much as it was the combination.  They couldn’t see the plow in front during the height of the snow.

While no serious situations were reported as a result of the Saturday storm, many were the dramas that it brought about.

One came Saturday night when Mr. and Mrs. Ray Gluch, who live about two miles east of Granton, staged a six-hour race with the stork.  They battled drifts with shovels and power, and strained through zero visibility in their truck, after they abandoned efforts in their car.  Finally they received highway department help.

They arrived at the hospital in Marshfield, but a short time before their son was born.  He is their first child.

Glenn and Joe Zilk, Jr., walled about two and one-half miles through the blizzard in the early morning Sunday, bucking waist-high drifts over Highway 10 east of the city.

They had been on three “rescue” calls with their powerful tow truck; had been in the ditch and pulled themselves out twice, when the truck hit the ditch for the third, and last, time in front of the C. A. Paulson farm.

“We just couldn’t see the road.” Joe Jr. explained the following day.  “It all looked alike, just snow.”

The Tom Flynn’s of Neillsville spent four and one-half hours making it back from Merrillan, spending two hours at the Roy Iverson farm after giving up.  They followed the highway snowplow back into the city as it passed the Iverson place.

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Sgt. Charlotte Ayers of Baltimore, Md., arrived Friday by plane at Wausau for a surprise weekend visit with her patents, Mr and Mrs. Claude Ayers, and brother, Sgt. Wendell Ayers, who is home on leave from Hawaii.  This is the first meeting of brother and sister in three years.  On Sunday, Mr. and Mrs. Ayers entertained at a family gathering at their home on West 5th Street and it was the first time since 1951 that all member of the Ayers family were home together.  Those present were: Charlotte and Wendell, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Bertz (Joan Ayers) and daugher of Loyal; Donald Ayers, taking traffic officer training at Camp McCoy; Melvin Ayers of loyal, and Miss Carol Thompson. Charlotte left Tuesday on her return trip to Baltimore.                                                                                             

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About 85 youngsters will be undertaking the 12-week gun safety course, which is being given this year for the first time by the Neillsville Sportsmen’s Club.

Seventy-two young men, most of them from 12 to 16, registered for the course at the orientation and registration meeting held last Friday night, according to Delbert C. Struble, who is in charge of the course.

In the course the boys will be taught safety practices and knowledge of guns and gun-handling.  A registration fee of 50 cents is charge to defray expenses of ammunition, which will be used during the course.  Included are two field instruction trips.                                                                                                                   

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Little noted last Saturday by the public was the moving of the Neil Trogner family, but that event marked the death knell of an era in Neillsville and the passing of a section of the city.

For the Trogner’s were the last people to leave Vets’ Village, a section of 12 prefabricated units, which served upward of 60 families during the pinch of housing shortage her for 10 years.

Located on the East edge of the Sunset heights development, near Memorial hospital, Vets’ Village was established by the city in 1946.  It was made up of eight single, and four double, prefabricated units moved here from the Badger Ordnance works, near Baraboo.  The moving cost the city about $5,000.

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