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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 24, 1955)
: ;yi£| ten^|~. ' 11 , g* mum PAGES * This Issue North-Central Nebraska’s BIGGEST Newspaper Volume 75.—Number 30. O’Neill, Holt County, Nebraska, Thursday, November 24, 1955._ Seven Cents Father, So Killed in Pla: e Crash STATE HIST SOC m Ryshna . . . started piano at age of 7. Young Pianist Opens New Concert Season t ■'+ Mrs. Alma Thorell Rites Wednesday Boyd Teacher Dies in Hospital BRISTOW—Mrs. Alma Thor ell, 67, of Bristow died Sunday af ternoon, November 20, at a Lynch hospital after an illness of several months. Funeral services were held at 2 o’clock Wednesday afternoon, November 23, at Rosedale Luther an church. Mrs. Thorell had been cared for at her home by her daughters and daughters-in-law until she became suddenly worse Saturday afternoon and was taken to the hospital.' Sne was the widow of Charles Thorell. For .several years she taught school in Boyd county, and until the past year had been the primary room teacher at Lynch. • Survivors include: Daughters— Mrs. Grace Ruda of Bristow, Mrs. Eunice Fuhr of Beatrice, Mrs. Florence Burnette of Indepen dence, Kans., Mrs. Bernice Thor ell of Rockwell City, la., and Mrs. Helen McDaniel of Redwood, Calif.; sons — Conrad of Bristow and Julian, Wayne State Teach ers college student; 11 grandchil dren. I 50 Attend County Legion, Aux Meeting STUART — Members of Holt county American Legion and auxiliary posts met for a gen eral business session at Stuart Monday evening. All units and posts of Holt county were repre sented with 150 persons in atten dance. Speakers at the joint meeting were: Stanley Huffman of Ewing, department commander; R. J. Patterson of Lincoln, department adjutant; Charles E. Chace of At kinson, district commander, and Jerome Henn of Petersberg, past Jerome Henn of Petersburg, past There was also a film on flag history and etiquette. Entertain mem was iurmsnea Dy a group of young Stuart girls who tap daneed. At a seperate auxiliary meet ing, Miss Milnar of Atkinson spoke on education scolarships; Mrs. C. C. Becker, district two president, gave a report on dis trict memberships. At the close, the Stuart auxil iary furnished a lunch for the group. ... Next Holt county meeting will be in O’Neill on January 16 with the Page unit presenting a pro gram -on civil defense. Patton’s Father Killed by Truck Percy Patton, 79, father of A. L. (“Pat”) Patton of O’Neill, was fatally injured last week when struck by the rear end of a live stock truck at a street intersec tion in Parsons, Kans. The aged man was dragged some distance by the vehicle, which was operated by an ac quaintance. Mr. Patton had gone into the street to visit with the driver. The son, who' lives at O’Neill and owns and operates the Patton Ben Franklin store, departed im mediately for Kansas to attend the funeral. Survivors include the widow, four daughters and one son. .. .. • Plan Open-House at Spencer— LYNCH — Mr. and Mrs. John Cassidy will observe their golden wedding anniversary Sunday, No vember 27. They will hold open house from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., at the Spencer Community hall. They are pioneer residents in the Ft. Randall community. At Pierson Home— Mr. and Mrs. W. B. Lamb will spend Thanksgiving day in the Merritt Pierson home. Merritt is a nephew of Mr. Lamb. Very Rev. Timothy O’Sullivan left Monday, November 14, for Chicago, 111. He plans to be gone three weeks. > ____________ Blonde and beautiful, Natalie Ryshna, brilliant young American pianist, will appear here on Wed nesday, November 30, at the O’ Neill public school auditorium under the auspices of the O’Neill Community Concert association. This will be the first concert of the 1955-’56 season—the second season for the group. Miss Ryshna embarked on her current seasons tour with the praise of the New York critics still ringing in her ears. Last Ap ril, at the close of a very busy season, she gave her second New York recital. The result was unanimous applause from the metropolitan music critics. “Blonde, personable, poised and gifted with dramatic projec tion power, she adds numerous assets to her obviously excep tional talents as a musician,’ said the New York Post. Delighting the New York crit ics is no new experience to Nata lie Ryshna. The gifts which her recent recital confirmed were immediately recognized at her Town Hall debut three seasons ago. This successful introduction plunged the young artist into a busy professional life. She has performed as soloist with many orchestras among them the Min neapolis Symphony. She has ap peared at summer music festi vals and her winter schedule has been crowded with recital en gagements. Miss Ryshna was born in Phil adelphia, Pa. Her parents are American of Polish - Ukranian heritage Although neither of her parents had any musical training, the home environment was con genial to music, literature and the arts in general. Natalie began to study the piano at the age of seven. When she was 12-years old, she was heard by Allison R. Drake, dean of the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music. He im mediately recognized her great natural talents and began to dis continued on page 2) Longtime j Resident Dies at 87 ! . Mrs. P. j. Biglin Came in Covered Wagon; Rites Set Friday Mrs. P J. Biglin, 87, a former O’Neill resident, died Monday evening, November 21, in a Wich ita, Kans., hospital. She had been hospitalized several months. Funeral services will be con ducted at 9 a.m., Friday, Novem ber 25, from St. Patrick’s Catho lic church. Rev. Thomas Hitch will officiate. Burial will be in Calvary cemetery near the grave of her late husb'and. A rosary will be offered at 8 o’clock tonight (Thursday) at Biglin’s funeral chapel. The late Mrs. Biglin, whose maiden name was Catherine Dailey, was born November 4, 1868, at Silver Brook, Pa. She came to Nebraska with her parents in 1880 when she was 12-years-old. The family traveled as far as Tilden by railroad. Dur ing that period Tilden was the western rail terminus. The family made the journey to the O’Neill ; communtiy in a covered wagon. Her parents were John and El len Dailey, who were Irish immi grants. They settled on a home stead nine miles northwest of O’ Neill, spending the early years in a sodhouse. There were nine chil | dren in the family, two of whom ! died in infancy. She married Patrick J. Biglin in St. Patrick’s church in 1893. The rite was performed by the late Father Cassidy. Her husband was a coal dealer in O’Neill for many years before he retired. He died in 1945. The late Mrs. Biglin made her home many years with her daughter, Helen, in O’Neill. In 1950 Mrs. Biglin accompanied her daughter, Mrs. Edward (Helen) O’Donnell, and Mr. O’Donnell to Salina, Kans., where they resided five years. About a year ago the family moved from Saiira to Wichita. Survivors include: Daughters— Mrs. Edward L. O’Donnell of Wichita; Miss Marie Biglin of Salt Lake City, Utah; brother— W. P. Dailey of O’Neill. Spencer Biggest? ‘It Ain’t So!’ BUTTE—A lead story in the November 17 issue of The Frontier pertained to the town of Spencer slowly working it self out from under bonded in debtedness, which dates back 34 years. Butte residents were pleased to learn their Boyd county compatriots living in Spencer are making commendable prog ress against the ancient debt. But several of them took high offense at the reference in the story that Spencer is the largest town in Boyd county. One Butte merchant grabbed the nearest telephone to point out the error in the story to The Frontier edtior. “It simply isn’t true,” he de clared. “The biggest town is Butte.” Time was when Spencer had the greatest population. But the 1950 census shows: Butte—614; Spencer—540. “Please print those correct figures in big, bold type,” ask ed N. C. Anderson, one of Butte’s leading trumpeters. Pear! Christensen Dies at Atkinson ATKINSON—Pearl May Chris tensen, 61, died Thursday, No vember 10, at the Atkinson Me morial hospital in Atkinson. Pearl May Vargason was born February 14, 1894, to Mr. and Mrs. Melvin H. and Allie A. Var gason at Kirkwood. On March 11, 1912, she married Hans Peter Christensen at Bassett. They be came the parents of seven chil dren. They made their home in New port until 1918, when they moved to Missouri, where they lived for 12 years. They returned to New port in 1930 and lived on a farm until 1944. From 1944 until 1947 she lived in O’Neill and Alda, where she had employment. In 1947 she moved to Newport and made her home with her son, Raymond. She was a member of the Meth odist church and took active part in the War Mothers and Ameri can Legion auxiliary groups. Survivors included: Sons—Ray mond, Elmer and John of New port, Ervin of Aurora; daughters —Esther Bartlett of Riverview and Emigene Bartlett of Aurora; 16 grandchildren; two brothers;13 nieces and nephews. The Frontier for commercial printing. The Jiraks . . . married here in 1905.—The Frontier Photo. Accordian Aids Celebration By a Staff Writer More than 146 guests called on Mr. and Mrs. Anton Jirak cn Sunday, November 20, at their farm home seven miles northwest of here. 'J’he Jiraks were celebrat ing their 50th wedding anniver sary. Their golden wedding day in cluded a dinner at noon served to members of the immediate fam ily and Rev. Karl Kucera. The dinner was prepared by Mrs Charles Kalina, jr., and Mrs. Ru dolph Brockman. A silk tablecloth, brought from Okinawa by their grandson, Frank Soukup, highlighted the guest table for the reception which was held between 2 and 5 p.m. Large bowls of chrysanthe mums served as decorations. The wedding cake was baked and dec orated by Mr. Jirak’s only sister, Mrs. Agnes Brockman, and her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Rudolph Erockman. Mrs. Fred McCart, Mrs. Donald Mar cell us and Miss Joann Sou kup, all granddaughters, served. The following grandsons acted as ushers: Frank Soukup, Francis, Leonard and Donald Havranek. Mrs. Frank Soukup was in charge of the gifts, assisted by I Miss Joann Soukup. Others assisting with the recep tion were Mrs. Joseph Kalina, Mary Fiala. Mrs. Stanley Peters, Mary Brockman and Lillian Ka lina. Only relatives from a distance attending were Mrs. Vince Prnke pec and family of Clarkson. Mr. Jirak. 71, was born in Bohemia. At the age of 16V2 years he immigrated alone to the United States. He came di 1 rectly to Nebraska. Mrs. Jirak, 68, whose maiden name was Mary Musil, was bora eight miles south of O’Neill. The couple was married in St. Patrick’s Catholic church at O’ Neill (in the original church building) by Father Dolan, the assistant pastor, on November 2o, 1905. They became the parents of two daughters, Frances and Mary. The Jiraks lived for a time south of O’Neill. They have ros;ti ed on their present 160-acre farm more than a score of years. Ear ner they lived on several differ ent farms. The Jiraks entertain no plans for retiring. Mr. Jirak had been doing all his own farm work un til last year when ne took on an additional 160 acres and hired a man. (Continued on page 10) This is a view of the plane wreckage in wh ch the two Garuoods were fatally injured. The 43-year-old father died instantly; the 20-yeac-old son died a few minutes, after being removed from the wreckage.—The Frontier Photo by Bruce Rehberg. ---1 A strange set of campus circumstances featu red the St. Mary’s senior class play. Left-to-right: Max Bohn, Barbara McCarthy, Ray Donohoe, Jo in Lansworth aud James Hoffman. •-» 10 Die in State’s Worst Accident At least two O’Neillites viewed the scene of Nebraska’s worst highway accident a short time after it happened Sunday after noon near Waterbury. Ten per sons lost their lives when an eastbound car containing six young boys collided with a west bound machine carrying four members of an orchestra. The musicians’ machine caught afire and the bodies were burned be yond recoginition. The flames had not died out when Lorance Edmisten, a clerk in Gilligan’s Rexall drug, came tb the wreckage. John Wallen of O’ Neill, who had been in Sioux City, was at the scene a short m” pfter the accident. He described it as the “most gruesome site imagineable. Unauthorized Cage Practice Banned City School Supt. Milton J. Baack said this week a number of school students have entered the public school gymnasium and conducted unauthorized basket ball sessions. In some instances, he said, it was a matter of breaking and en tering. “The unauthorized entry must stop,” he declared, “or disciplin ary action will be taken.” The infractions do not pertain to organized groups which prac tice and play basketball on a fix ed schedule. The organized groups using the court are the O’Neill high school and grade school teams, St. Mary’s academy high school and grade school teams, national guard team and town team. The auditorium schedule is so crowded that Saturdays are the only open dates. O’Neill public school will be dismissed Wednesday at 3 p.m., for the Thanksgiving holidays. St. Mary’s academy will begin its Thanksgiving vacation Wednes day at 3:45 p.m. Both schools will 1 resume on Monday. Substitutes Enable Show to Carry On “Good Night, Ladies,” a three act farce, presented Friday, No vember 18, and Sunday, Novem ber 20, by the St. Mary’s seniors, was acclaimed a “gerat success.” Both nights found the SMA audi torium packed to overflowing with appreciative audiences. Due to the sudden illness of Thomas Head, roles were chang ed. Max Bohn and Ray Donohoe were applauded for learning new parts overnight. The show went on as scheduled. The play was an explosive mix ture of a dormitory full of college youngsters, two male “spinster aunts,” a fearsome dean of wom en, and a professor who was an expert on frogs. Planning to save his sisters’ home from mortgage disaster by converting it into a dormitory, Sam and his friend. “Jug” Brown, arrive as the girls’ “aunts” to take oyer as chap erones. The dean eventually stumbles onto the masquerade, only after everyone else has dis covered the hoax. Only the inter ference of Professor Dexter, re cently appointed as college presi dent, saves the culprits. The play was under the direc tion of Sister M. Emilia and Mrs. F. F. Kubitschek. Janice Turner sang “Nursery Rhymes” and Karen Mahoney sang “The Hand of You” during the first interlude. “Put on Your Old Gray Bonnet” was sung by the senior ensemble after act two. GRANDFATHER DIES Mr. and Mrs. Henry Loflin and daughter, Jolee, Thursday at tended the funeral for Mrs. Lof lin’s grandfather, Grant DeHart, 92, who died Monday, November 14, in Lincoln. Survivors include four sons, one daughter, a num ber of nieces and nephews. Harvest Ball— Tuesday evening the junior class at St. Mary’s sponsored the annual harvest ball. The king, Matt Hynes, and the queen, Kar en Mahoney, were crowned by their attendants, Larry Johnson and Mary Jo Donlin, on a stage decorated with autumn leaves. ♦ ■ — Dean Lambert to Speak Here The annual meeting of the Holt county extension service and the Holt Soil Conservation district will feature Dean W. V. Lambert from the University of Nebraska college of agriculture at Lincoln. He was in charge of the delega tion that visited Russia during the past summer. The meeting will be held in O’Neill during the afternoon. ‘•This promises to be a-verv in teresting m6eting with informa tion on family life and agriculture in Russia,” according to Holt County Agent A. Neil Dawes. Start Construction of Recreational Building EWING—The Hoesing Brothers contractors of Hartington arrived in Ewing on Friday to begin con struction on the recreation build i n g for St. Peter's Catholic church. The building will be elected on the land north of the church. Mrs. R. J. McGinnis Dies in California Mrs. R. J. McGinnis of Los An geles, Calif., died Friday, Novem ber 18. Mrs. McGinnis was the former Mary Hurley of O’Neill. Mrs. Thomas H. Hopkins of Los Angeles is now the sole sur vivor of the Hurley family. Rural Teachers Hear Book Review— The Holt county rural teachers and their guests met Wednesday evening, November 16. After the dinner a short business meeting was held. Following the business session Mrs. Henry Connenberg of Bas sett presented a book review en titled “Good Morning, Miss Dove.” March 21 has been set as the tentative date for the next meet 1 ing. Double Rite Held for Garwoods Low - Flying Aircraft Strikes Hill During Hunt for Coyotes AMELIA—A prominent Amelia rancher and his son were kill ed about 2:15 p.m., on Sunday when their low - flying plane crashed into a hill in Garfield county, near the Holt - Garfield county line. Dead are: RAYMOND GARWOOD, 43. DALE R. GARWOOD, 20. Witnesses said their late-model Super Cup 135, flying northward » upwind during a coyote hunt, ap peared to stall at an altitude of about 350 to 400 feet. The plane made a half-spin about the time it struck the ground. Mr. Garwood was believed to have died instantly. Dale lived . „ several minutes after being re moved from the wreckage. First person to reach the wreckage was Gerald DeGroff, who, with a half-dozen others, was par ticipating in the coyote hunt on the ground. rr»1__i. . wtuirea aDoui inree miles northwest of the Kelley store, which is situated in Gar field county. 0 * James Boettcher, 18, son of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Boettcher of ‘At kinson, was flying in another plane about a quarter of a mile " ahead and to one side of the Gar wood plane, which wgs being pi loted by the. father. The Garwood plane had been aloft more than a . half-hour, Boettcher said. Boettcher, who was accompan ied by Roy Harrington, said he „ was making a banking turn .and he saw the Garwood plane stall and go down. Boettcher said his aircraft was about one hundred feet lower than the ill - fated plane. The ground party hurried to the wreckage, which was about a mile from the road. In the surface party were Mr. DeGroff and son. Kenneth Mitchell, Ira LLerman and several others. The ground party drove pickup trucks and employed four hounds. One coy ote had already been bagged. The hunt began about 1:30. Boettoher said the terrain was rolling, visibility was “very good” and weather “fine.” The accident occurred in the Donald Benton pasture, which is locat ed about 20 miles north of Bur well. Garfield Sheriff Ross Aber nathy of Burwell investigated He said both Garwoods held private pilot’s licenses and had done -con siderable flying. The two were Holt county residents. The Garwoods, whose ranch is located about 35 miles north of Burwell, had had the plane about a year. • * • The younger Garwood and his bride of five months resided on the same ranch with his parents. The son was associated with his father. Double funeral services for the » » victims were held at 2 p.m., Wed nesday, November 23, from the Methodist church in Atkinson. Burial was in Woodlawn ceme tery at Atkinson. The late Raymond Garwood was born February 24, 1912, at Atkinson, the son of Mrs. Bert Garwood and the late Mr. Gar- * wood. His father died as the. result of a fall from a hay stack. He was married to Miss Doro thy Smith of Atkinson October J9, 1934. The couple resided on a ranch in the Swan lake vicinity most of their married life. Mr. Garwood was known as a raiser of Aberdeen-Angus cattle. He was a member of the Atkin son Methodist church. » Mr. Garwood’s survivors in clude; Widow—Dorothy; son — Charles, 2; daughters— Faye, 11; Marlene, 9, and Janice, 7; mother —Mrs. Bert (Cecelia) -Garwood of Atkinson; sister— Mrs. Dean Rowse; brothers — Glenn, Ford, Blaine, Ralph and Evan, all of Atkinson. The late Dale Raymond Oar wood was bom September 21, 1935. He was graduated from Atkinson high school in 1954, and was active a number of years in 4-H club activities in south west Holt county. He was married to Miss Marve lene Cuatt on June 3, 1955. Dale’s survivors include: Widow —Marvelene; his mother, sisters, brother; grandmothers — Mrs. ° Garwood and Mrs. Charles Smith, both of Atkinson. Mrs. Alice Axtell of Stuart on Friday, November 24, will quiet ly observe her 104th birthday.