Skip to content

The Way We Were

20 Years Ago

1996 – The Vandalia Vandals clobbered Breese Central, 30-6, to end the football season with a perfect 9-0 mark. The Vandals were to host Piasa Southwestern in the first round of postseason playoffs.
Josephine Burtschi, a noted Vandalia historian who established The Little Brick House, died at the age of 87.
A white male in a Chevrolet Blazer robbed First Bank in Vandalia, getting away with an undisclosed amount.
Dave Arnold, a custodian at Brownstown Schools, was featured in the National Education Association magazine for his poetry about education.
Raychael Orr, a graduate of Brownstown High School, was on the Lake Land College volleyball team.
25 Years Ago

1991 – Twin sisters Alma Smith and Alta Gelsinger celebrated their 90th birthdays on Nov. 3.
All employees of the Henshel Manufacturing hat factory were laid off less than three weeks after the plant opened.
Mulberry Grove’s volleyball team whipped Litchfield and Ravmond-Lincolnwood to win the Raymond-Lincolnwood Regional Tournament Saturday. This was a first for the volleyball squad and only the second regional title for a Mulberry Grove athletic team.
Jamie Behrends, a Brownstown High School sophomore, led the Bombers to a victory over Cowden-Herrick in the championship match of the Ramsey Regional Volleyball Tournament Saturday night.
The Brownstown Bombers beat Newton to win their first-ever sectional match in volleyball action at VCHS on Tuesday.
Elvin and Helen Tedrick were to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary Nov. 10.
Cuppy’s Pharmacy was celebrating its 30th anniversary the entire month of November.
After doing business for 62 years in Pittsburg, the Eakin & Emerick farm implement dealership was to move to Vandalia. Gary Emerick and Tim Emerick were to combine their operations and retain the name Vandalia Tractor & Equipment.

30 Years Ago

1986 – The Vandalia football team ended a 16-game losing streak, beating Breese Central, 28-14.
Pittsburg Free Methodist Church was defaced by vandals, who did about $55,000 damage.
Stephen L. Knebel, a 1980 graduate of Vandalia Community High School and a 1986 graduate of the Department of State Police Training Academy in Springfield, was assigned as a trooper to Fayette County in District 12.
Brownstown beat Altamont to win the regional volleyball crown.
Incumbent county officers Isabelle Brandt, David Marty and Leonard Kelly were re-elected.
Jean Finley, a Ramsey Democrat, was the first woman elected to the Fayette County Board of Supervisors.
Melanie Moore and Nick Parker were named queen and king of the Patoka Halloween Carnival.
St. Elmo won the Brownstown Invitational Eighth Grade Basketball Tournament.
Heidi Pryor of Brownstown was named All-Area Volleyball Player of the Year by The Leader-Union. Her coach, Sue Barrow, was Coach of the Year. Other first-team picks were Susie Campbell of Vandalia, Amy Cole of Brownstown, Sue Ann Lotz of LaGrove, Elaine Moore of St. Elmo, Wendy Peyton of Vandalia and Angie Sergent of Ramsey.
The VCHS marching band was scheduled to play at the SIU football game.

30 Years Ago

1976 – Democrats were decisive winners in Fayette County in Tuesday’s election. William Kelly was elected state’s attorney; Maurice Sefton, coroner; and Jim Carter, county clerk. Unofficial reports gave the presidency to Jimmy Carter over Gerald Ford by a narrow margin.
Bruce Lowry left Vandalia Farm Bureau to accept a like position at Pontiac.
The Vandalia City Council unanimously approved Gallatin-Kennedy traffic signals at the Monday night meeting. Cost was to have been $50,000. The federal government was to pay 70 percent and the state 30 percent.
Armin D. Hotz of St. Peter formed a partnership with his son, Armin (Butch), and decided to go into semi-retirement.

45 Years Ago

1966 – Mr. and Mrs. Cale Davis observed their 50th wedding anniversary Sunday in the fellowship room at Haley Chapel.
Stubby, a 6-month-old groundhog, pet of the Burle Scott children, made the rounds of the neighborhood for candy, and wore a rabies inoculation tag around his neck.

55 Years Ago

1956 – Retiring queen Mary Ellen Wright crowned Bettie Dowell, Brownstown eighth-grader, queen of Brownstown PTA carnival.
Isadore Shulman was elected president or the Jewish Federation of Southern Illinois at the organization’s 15th annual meeting held in St. Louis at the Chase Hotel.
Ray Carruthers was ordained a Baptist minister Sunday afternoon.
Romeo Ireland returned from 19 months along the “Dew” Line in Alaska. He was an employee of Illinois Bell Telephone Co.
Births — daughter to Mr. and Mrs. Wallace Lape, Vandalia; son to Mr. and Mrs. John Daniels, Seminary; daughter to Mr. and Mrs. Lee Wadkins, Patoka; son to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Bone, Vandalia; son to Mr. and Mrs. George Spragg, Mason.

65 Years Ago

1946 – Amateur acts won $120 on Corn Day. Alexander’s Ragtime Band copped first prize; Corn Day orchestra, second; and Mrs. Ralston Edwards and her children’s gypsy act, third.
George Crickman was Fayette County’s junior corn king and his grandfather, Jess Crickman, was Corn King.
After 45 days in an incubator at Mark Greer Hospital, Leroy “Jumbo” Berg, who weighed 1 pound, 14 ounces at birth, weighed 4 pounds, 11 ounces and was soon to leave the hospital for the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Berg of Mason.
VFW Auxiliary put on a drive to buy wheelchairs for veterans.
Red Cross packed 50 Christmas packages for the high seas.
Troop 4 Brownies had a Halloween party Monday afternoon and the Girl Scouts attended St. James Lutheran Church Sunday morning.
Two sites in Fayette County were on list for consideration for a state lake project.
 

Leave a Comment