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“VOICE”
OF THE FRONTIER”
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If V i Util PAGES
^JJrUlly wX %. This Issue
9:45 AM. — 780 k.c. ’ m *
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Volume 73—Number 33. Seven Cents
®*8 hist soc ^
’ Chins Drop, Eyes Pop
At Sight of ARC Gals’
Heart Attack Fatai
o
to Louis Barthel
Military Rites for
Well-Known Rancher
BURWELI—Louis W. Barthel,
59, who was stricken with a
heart attack on Monday, Decem
ber 7, and was taken to the Bur
well Memorial hospital the fol
lowing day, died Wednesday,
December 9. He was a Prominent
Holt county rancher, residing
about three miles from the Gar
field-Holt county line.
Funeral services were con
i'ucted at 1:30 p.m., Monday, De
cember 14, from the Methodist
church in Burwell. The funeral
was one of the largest ever held
in Burwell—the crowd overflow
ing the church auditorium into
three other rooms.
Military burial rites were
conducted at the Chambers
cemetery by members of the
Chambers American Legion
post.
The late Louis William Barthel
was born at Amelia January 7,
1894, the second son of Carl Bar
thel, who died when Louis was
a small boy, and Ruby C. Rubin
Barthel, who died in October,
1945.
He spent all of his life in the
Amelia community and home
steaded near Amelia.
In March, 1918, he entered the
army and received his honorable
discharge in December, 1918 —
after the close of World War I.
On June 10, 1919, he married
-Katherine Nelson of Lincoln.
They became the parents of six
children.
The late Mr. isartnei jumeu
the Methodist church and was
baptized at Swan lake in the
summer of 1921. The rur®3
church was disbanded about 15
years ago. ,,
At the time of his death Mr.
Barthel was chairman of the
board of directors of the Elkhorn
Valley National Farm Loan as
sociation, with headquarters in
O’Neill, and was a district PMA
committeeman. .
Survivors include: Widow;
sons — Kenneth of Chambers,
Calvin of Burwell, Keith of Am
elia; daughters— Mrs. Glenn M.
(Eleanor) Johnson of Burwell,
Lois and Joan, both of Amelia,
ijve grandchildren; brothere —
Grover E. of Wenatchee, Wash.,
and Carl E. of Burwell.
Reverend Clayton, assisted by
Rev. A. J. Hindman, officiated
at the funeral. Donald Benton,
Mrs. Betty Rowse and Mr. and
Mrs. Gordon Ballagh sang 'What
Friend,” “Saved by Grace and
“The Old Rugged Cross.” They
were accompanied on the piano
by Mrs. Laura Garwood.
Pallbearers were Floyd Tay
lor, Claude Abbott, Donald Car
penter, Loren Jurgenson, Ralph
Kelley and Charles Perrott.
*54 Pontiac* Go on
Display Here Friday
An entirely new line of cars—
bigger, longer and more luxur
ious—plus an improved and new
ly styled line of Chieftains for
1954 was announced this week
by the Wm. Krotter Co., of O’
Neill and Spencer, Pontiac deal
ers. Pontiac is a division of Gen
eral Motors.
They will go on display in
dealers’ showrooms across the
nation for a two-day announce
ment period beginning Friday,
December 18. Krotters will be
serving free coffee and dough
nuts to persons visiting their
snowrooms on Friday. They will
be open until 10 p.m.
The new line, to be known as
the Star Chief series, is 11
inches longer over-all, has a tw®
inch longer wheelbase, a more
powerful eight- cylinder engine
and some of the most luxurious
interiors ever offered in a motor
ciir.
All 1954 Pontiacs have been
restyled with a new radiator
grille, new silver streak, new
DeLuxe and Custom mouldings
and many other features, both
interior and exterior, including
the widest selection of colors and.
• color combinations ever offered.
Mechanically, the Pontiac
straight eight with 7.7:1 com
pression ratio and hydra-matic
has been stepped up to 127 horse
power, equipped with a new car
buretor and intake manifold, a
new current and voltage regula
tor and a new spark plug and
ignition coil mounting. The new
regulator, a new distributor and
valves with improved durability
have been added to the six cylin
der engine.
An expanded line of optional
accessories is offered this year,
including power brakes, Comfort
Control front seat with a tilt-or
raise feature, automatic electric
window lifts for front doors, in
strument panel safety cushion,
air conditioning for eight-cylin
der models and improved power
steering, as well as Pontiac’s fam
ous dual - range hydra - matic
transmission.
Krotters will have at least two
’54 Pontiacs on their floor.
Paul Moseman
an Instructor—
Pvt. Paul E. Moseman, jr., son
of Mr. and Mrs. Paul E. Mose
man, sr., is an instructor in the
engineering laboratory at Ft.
Monmouth, N.J. He is in the
army signal corps.
MINOR FIRE
STUART — Minor damage to
the roof of the Newman Oil com
pany plant here was caused by
a fire Thursday evening, ignifed
by an illuminated sign. The
Stuart fire department answered
the alarm.
Give The Frontier for Xmas!
—
(Photo below)
Arriving on the snowswept,
rugged Korean terrain in time
for Thanksgiving dinner with
American troops, O’Neill’s Miss
Mary Louise (“Lou”) Birming
ham thus computed a drastic
I transition.
Until signing up with the
American Red Cross in October,
she headquartered in the comfy
KM-TV studios at Omaha, doing
a homemaking program in front
of the big cameras.
Now she has a morale job with
10,000 lonely GI’s in distant Ko
rea. She is a real American gal
serving as a link between the
overseas servicemen and their
wives and sweethearts back
home. “Lou” was born and rear
ed here, attended Barat college
at Lake Forest, 111., before en
tering the television field.
Miss Birmingham’s parents,
Mr. and Mrs. H. J. Birmingham,
have received a series of delay
ed letters from their globetrot
! ting daughter. And her own
I words best tell the story:
* * *
“This is the beginning of a
I great adventure,” she wrote
while enroute. “I know deep in
•ny heart that it is the right thing
to do. The Red Cross is the best
agency for helping—and that’s
what I want to do—to give and
help.
“At Travis air base in Califor
| nia (enroute overseas), I chanced
to visit with Capt. Bill Conklin,
who flew with Bob Early in the
China-Burma-India theater dur
ing World War II. Incidentally,
we flew across in a Gl-plane
with bucket seats—not a plush
job at all. The experience is one
I’ll never forget. Aboard were
| 65 passengers and 11 of them
j were women.
“At Honolulu I phoned Mr.
| and Mrs. Arthur Latta. They
i were very surprised. I couldn’t
blame them.
“We donned bright yellow
Mae West (lifesaver) jackets for
the flight. We got into Wake is
land about 3 a.m. The sun was
beginning to come up and the
colors in the sky were out of
this world—bright green, deep
blue, rose, pink, aqua.
“The pilot was from Grand
Island — that’s for the small
world department. Landing at
Haneda airport outside Tokyo,
we cleared through customs and
I changed our money to the coin
of the realm—yen.
“The Japanese money is quite
complicated and hard to keep.
Like playing monopoly.
“While in Tokyo we visited
Tokyo general hospital and heard
a beautiful choir sing.
“There are no traffic signals
in Tokyo and people are scurry
ing all directions. They have tiny
taxicabs which toot their horns
incessantly. Being an American
makes me feel definitely in the
minority. Americans are so tall
—the Japanese are so small. Even
I, 5-4, feel like a giant.
(Continued on page 6)
Mrs. Peter Gengler
Burial at Lynch
Lives on Homestead
Half-Century
LYNCH—Funeral servcies for
Mrs. Peter Gengler, 76, were
held at the Assumption BVM
Catholic church at Lynch Tues
day, December 15, with Rev.
John Wieczorek offering the re
quiem mass. Burial was made in
the Catholic cemetery north of
town. Rosary was said at the
funeral home Monday evening.
Mary Gengler, daughter of
Henry and Mary Boltz, was born
in the grand duchy of Luxem
burg.
At the age of 12, she came to
America with her parents to
make their home. They came to
Knox county.
She was united in marriage to
Peter Gengler February 15, 1896,
at Bloomfield. Mr. and Mrs.
Gengler lived on their home
stead for 50 years.
Four sons and three daughters
were born to Mr. and Mrs. Geng
ler.
In 1941, the family moved to
Lynch and in 1942 to Verdigre
where they resided five years,
returning to Lynch where they
have since resided.
She was preceded in death by
one daughter, who died in in
fancy, her parents, five brothers
and one sister.
Survivors include: Widower;
sons — Nicolaus of Plainview;
George and Louis, both of Om
aha; Anton of Creighton; daugh
ters—Mrs. Katherine Geotzinger
of Norfolk and Mrs. Elizabeth
Nollett of Valentine; sisters —
Sister Mary of Los Angeles,
Calif., Order of the Good Shep
herd; Mrs. Virginia Gales of
Iona, Minn.; Mrs. Catherine And
erson of Omaha; five grand
children.
Postoffice to Stay
Open Saturday P.M.
The O’Neill postoffice service
windows will remain open Sat
urday afternoon on December 19 !
to accomodate patrons, it was an
nounced by Acting Postmaster j
Mrs. Helen Sullivan. Normally
the windows close at 1 p.m.
The westbound mainline pass
enger-mail trains on the Chicago- \
North Western railroad have been
operating up to three hours late
this week due to the heavy load
of Christmas mail.
To Florida—
Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Aim and
Peggy have gone to Palmetto,!
Fla., to spend a portion of the j
winter. Thev a^e residing at 615
Fourth st., Palmet'O.
Mr. and Mrs. R H. Parker left
Monday for Florida where they
will spend about three months.
Santa Claus
to See Kids
Saturday
Jolly Ol’ Fellow Again
to Make Trip Here
with Jet Airplane
That jolly ol’ fellow, beloved
the world over by the small fry
will again visit O’Neill. Santa
Claus has passed the word he’ll
buzz into town Saturday, De
cember 19, in his jet-powered
airplane, land at the Municipal
airport, and be met by the O’
Neill fire department’s big truck
Operating on a tight time ta
ble, because he has a back-break
ing schedule between now and
Christmas eve, Santa says he’ll
pull up at the O’Neill public
school at 2 p.m.
"I want to see all the kids
from miles around in that line
up at O Neill," Santa advised
The Frontier by shortwave ra
dio. "I'm going to have treats
for all of 'em."
A final report on the arrange •
ments for Santa’s forthcoming
visit was made to the Chamber
of Commerce on Monday eve
ning in the group’s regular
monthly meeting. John R. Gal
lagher, committee chairman,
said “all is in readiness.’’
President G. C. DeBacker pre
sided. James W. Rooney, chair
man of the Chamber’s new in
dustries committee, made a re
port, and Carroll W. Stewart re
ported on the state highway de
partment’s hardsurfacing plans
for U.S. highways 281 and 20 and
state highways 95 and 11.
Extensive contracts are sched
uled to be let March 11, 1954,
with construction to get under
way as soon as practicable there
after.
The group instructed the sec
retary to write letters of appre
ciation to State Highway Engi
neer L. N. Ress and State Sen.
Frank Nelson.
Ed Wilson urged the grouo to
go on record to discourage am
munition trucks passing through
the city. The Chamber voted to
sendOa letter, conveying this
feeling, to the state railway
commission.
Wilson pointed up the recent
ammo truck explosions and
peril to cities through which
the trucks pass.
Thirty members attended Mon
day’s session at Slat’s cafe.
A turkey day report by A. P.
Jaszkowiak indicated the event
was a “huge success.” A long
term yule street lighting com
mittee was appointed to be head
ed by Don Peersen.
Longs Arriving—
Mr. and Mrs. Noel Long of
Colton, Calif., are expected next
week to spend Christmas vaca
tion with her parents, Mr. and
Mrs. Sam R. Robertson, and oth
er relatives and friends.
Visit Dishners—
Mr. and Mrs. Ivan Kinsman of
Columbus visited at the F. J.
Dishner home the past week. j
*®*™»*» ...mmm
I 0 Babies Fill Hospital Nursery
ien tiny babies in 10 little cribs posed Wednesday, Decern
ber 9, for The Frontier’s photographer in the St. Anthony’s hos
pital nursery. It was an important day because it was a record
number of infants in the 15-months-old hospital. The roster:
Front row (left-to-right)—Shirley Joan Reiman, daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. James Reiman of Butte; Sharroll Held, daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. Errol Held of O’Neill; Clo Etha Charlene Walters,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Walters of Chambers; Tommy
Dean Harding, son of Mr. and Mrs. Floyd Harding of O’Neill; Jo
dean Bernice Olson, daughter of Rev. and Mrs. R. W. Olson of
O’Neill; back row—Cheryl Kay Damme, daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Clarence Damme of Chambers; Robert Martin Langdon, jr., son
of Dr. and Mrs. R. M. Langdon of O’Neill; Mark Steven Lambert,
son of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Lambert of Chambers; Robert James
Paxton, son of Mr. and Mrs. Norman Paxton of Chambers; Jack
Eugene Clyde, son of Mr. and Mrs. Donald, Clyde of O’Neill.
Ullom to Be ‘30- Year-Man’
After 15 years in the army, i
Maj. Madeline Ullom has decided
she might just as well be a “30
year man.”
“What could an old army mar
like me do in civilian clothes?*
she asked with a wide grin. “All
these hash-marks and fruit salad
on my uniform are strictly mili
tary, and don’t mean a thing to
a civilian.”
Major Ullom is a native of the
O’Neill community where she
was reared. Recently, the Rocky
Mountains News, published at
Denver, Colo., devoted most of a
page to a picture story about her.
Even, civilians would disagree
with Major Ullom about some of
the fruit salad. For example she
wears the bronze star, awarded
for valor on Bataan and Corregi
dor, one of the few women en
titled to wear this decoration.
Her citations, both from the
U.S. and Philippine governments,
have back of them a storv of long
and devoted service and hard
ship. It’s the same with the battle
stars and the theater ribbons.
She has earned them.
At 42, Major Ullom is a live
ly, fast-talking natural blonde
who left a job teaching a coun
try school in Nebraska in 1933
to become a nurse, and then
donned a uniform with a sec
ond lieutenant's bars in 1938
and never regretted it.
She’s run the entire gamut of ,
army nursing jobs, from general j
ward nurse to operating room to |
obstetrics ward to nursing super- j
visor to laboratory work to her j
present job at Fitzsimons army 1
hospital, director of the advanced
technician school.
“I’ve seen the whole story,”
she said. “I’ve built a career in j
the army and I have a wonderful ;
life in a great profession. It’s a ;
career any young woman could :
enjoy, fully as much or more !
than a civilian job.”
Major Ullom frnkly is inter
ested in attracting other young
women into the service—not
only nursing, where the short
age of professional nurses is an
acute problem, but into other
branches — the WAC. the
WAVE, the women marines,
the women marines.
Though trained as a school
leacher, she gave up teaching
when 22 and went to Philadel
phia, Pa., where she was grad
uated as a nurse in 1937.
“I knew some army people and
1 bought they were wonderful, so
I decided to enlist,” she said. “In
1938, I made the grade and went
to Walter Reed hospital. After
two years, I asked for overseas
duty and was sent to Manila.”
War came on December 7, 1941.
Major Ullom, with a dozen other
nurses, stayed on duty in Manila
until December 30, when they
were evacuated to Corregidor.
They set up a hospital in a tun
nel and, under almost continual
fire and bombing, treated the
American sick and wrounded as
they best could.
On May 6, 1942, Corregidor
surrendered and "we were un
der new management." She
and the other nurses were con
sidered dangerous by the Jap
anese and were lockeo up in
isolation for six weeks. Then
they were placed in St. Tomas
concentration camp.
For the next three years, they
ran their own hospital within
the camp for the civilians. They
had little equipment or medical
supplies; often were lacking in
food. For the most part, their
captors did not bother them—
save for the time the Jap corri
nander forced them to care for
him when he had his tonsils re
moved.
When liberation came, Major
Ullom returned to the States.
New assignments—including a
(Continued on page 6)
Mrs. L. A. Burgess plans to
leave Sunday for Rochester,
Minn., where her daughter, Miss
Joann, has been a patient in a
hospital.
O'Neill's Miss Mary Louise ("Lou") Birmingham (standing at
left) is pictured with a contingent of American Red Cross work
ers upon their recent arrival at U.S. army IX corps headquarters
in Korea. The group was trained for social work at American uni
versity, Washington, D.C., and flown to Korea via Hawaii and
Japan.—U.S. Army Photo.
Coulter Draws
2-Year Sentence
Enters State Pen
Clark Coulter, 38, who was
caroled, evicted from his home
and arrested again, all in a single
iay, has begun serving a two
year sentence in the Nebraska
state penitentiary at Lincoln.
He first got into trouble with
authorities when he unlawfully
took a joyride in a car belonging
to Walter Haake of Chambers.
Coulter and a companion, Rich
ird Davidson, were chased by
State Highway Patrolman Rob
ert Gude at 90-mph over county
roads. The chase led down O’
Neill’s two busiest streets. Gude
fired at the speeding car before
the machine went into a plum
thicket south of town.
Coulter was paroled to County
Sheriff Leo Tomjack from “one
to five years” when he .appeared
before District Judge D. R
Mounts in Holt county district
court. After being in jail here
more than a week he was given
his freedom following the sen
tencing.
A few hours later he—and
his family — were evicted
from the residence in the
northeast section of town.
At 4:30 p.m., he was back in
jail on a check forgery charge
involving $3.75. The phoney
check had been issued at Stuart
two days before the joyride. In
another hearing Saturday morn
mg, Judge Mounts sentenced
Coulter to two years in the pen.
Sheriff Tomjack took Coulter
to Lincoln Sunday and, at the
same time, took Davidson to the
men’s reformatory to serve “one
to five years” on charges grow
ing out of the joyride incident.
Both admitted having driven the
Haake vehicle.
—- 11
Polio Group Hears
Mrs, Sageser—
A regular meeting of the Holt
county chapiter of the National 1
Foundation for Infantile Paralysis
was held at the courthouse annex
it 1:30 p.m., Monday, December
C. R. (“Bob”) Hill of O’Neill, '
president, was in charge.
The feature of the meeting was
i report by Mrs. Vem Sageser
an a New York meeting which
;he attended recently concem
ng polio and progress being
made to curb and control the
iread disease.
Batenhorst Made
Class Officer—
STUART— Navy Cadet Ken
neth F. Batenhorst, son of Mr.
and Mrs. Robert Batenhorst of
Stuart, and a pre-flight student
at the “Annapolis of the Air” in
Pensacola, Fla., was picked as
one of the officers of his class.
They are selected on their aca
demics, physical and military
training grades. The officers are
accorded special privileges.
Kenneth graduated from Stu
art high school in 1951 and at
tended Creighton university two
years.
*- i
Give The Frontier for Christ- ]
mas! ]
French New
President of
Doctor Unit
New Visiting Policy
Evolves from Staff
Meeting at Hospital
An election of staff officers
took place and a new policy con
cerning hospital visitations
evolved from a joint meeting of
staff doctors and St. Anthony’s
hospital staff. The session was
held Friday at the hospital.
Dr. O. W. French was elected
president of the staff, succeeding
his partner, Dr. J. P. Brown, who
held the post during the first
year of the hospital’s operation.
Dr. Rex W. Wilson was named
vice-president; Dr. W. F. Finley,
secretary.
Other staff doctors are Dr. L.
A. Carter and Dr. R. M Lang
don.
In a prepared statement, the
doctors and hospital staff an
nounced new regulations
which go into effect today
(Thursday). The statement de
clared "the new policies have
been adopted in the interest of
the patients.
“Visiting hours will be from 2
until 4 o’clock in the afternoons
and from 7 until 8:30 in the eve
nings.
“Visitors will be required to
limit their stays to 15 minutes,
or less. Be cheerful, control your
voice and please leave promptly.
Only two visitors will be allowed
each patient at one time
“No morning visits will be au
thorized by the doctors, except
for the very nearest relatives on
the morning of surgery or deliv
ery.
“The doctors and nurses need
time for patients.
“No Sunday morning visitors
will be allowed, and children
under 12 are not permitted to
visit patients.”
The new set of regulations
signed by each of the doctors
and by Mother Superior ML
Bertrand, was deemed impera
tive because on several occa
sions patients have had so
many visitors the doctors and
nurses could not even enter the
room, a spokesman said.
Sunday morning visitations
never have been authorized.
“These measures are taken and
will be rigidly followed in the
interest of the patients to speed
their recovery and dismissal
from the hospital. These policies
are universal in the better hos
pitals throughout the country
and it has become necessary to
follow them religiously at St.
Anthony’s. This is an urgent re
quest to the public to cooperate
with the doctors and the hospital
staff. And, when these matters
are pointed out, we are certain
you will be happy to cooperate
with us in the best interest of
the sick.”
Petersen Newly
Elected Chairman
Harry Petersen, O’Neill tele
phone executive, Wednesday eve
ning, December 9, was elected
rhairman of the Holt county
rhapter of the American Red
[Dross at a dinner meeting. He
succeeds R. E. Evans of O’Neill.
James R. Lyons of O’Neill was
elected first vice - chairman,
Leigh Reynoldson of O’Neill, sec
ond vice-chairman.
Reelected treasurer was J. B.
[Irady of O’Neill and Mrs. Guy
[Dole of Emmet was reelected
secretary.
One of the topics of discussion
was a water safety training
course to be inagurated upon the
opening of O’Neill’s new ntun
cipal swimming pool.
Lyons and Reynoldson will be
lamed as a committee to receive
applications from any person,
[8-years-old or above, who wants
o qualify for an all-expense life
juard training course, sponsored
jv the ARC, to be given at
Wayne college January 31-15.
2 Holt Men Dock
Monday at Seattle
Two Holt county servicemen,
returning from the Far East,
were among the 3,063 passengers
docking Monday at Seattle,
Wash., aboard the USNS Marine
Sernent.
They were Sfc. Harmon M.
[Jrunke of O’Neill and Sgt. Fred
?rick B. Kaup of Stuart.
laska Resident
Visits Atkinson—
ATKINSON— Wayne Werner
of Spinard, Alaska, has arrived
in Atkinson to spend the Christ
mas holidays with his mothet,
Mrs. Henry Werner.
Mrs. J. M. Kennedy of Ains
worth visited Saturday with her
parents, Mr. and Mrs. and Mrs
Dave Loy.