100 years ago
A launch that had been running from Bush Point to Seattle loaded with salmon had wrecked, resulting in the drowning of three Port Townsend men. The men were reportedly swept overboard by a heavy gale. Farmers discovered two of the men’s bodies about one mile apart on the beaches. The body of the captain had not yet been found.
Following an election in which the majority voted not to erect a new schoolhouse in Sandy Flat, a delegation from Sandy Flat made their way to Olympia to present their case for a new schoolhouse to the State School Superintendent. She ordered that a schoolhouse be provided for Sandy Flat, as the law provided for proper education and care of every child regardless of any district election or opinion of a body of local electors.
S.E. Hancock had purchased the Ben Hancock place in Coupeville, and Ben Hancock had purchased the Rockwell place from Herman Wannamaker. Elmer Calhoun, of Seattle, and Jack Rosenfield, of Coupeville, bought the Coupeville dock.
75 years ago
A selective draft drawing had been conducted. The 543 men registered in Island County had received their serial numbers and would soon learn in what order they would be called to duty. The first number drawn at Washington was 158; this would be the first number called in every registration district. The first quota had not been made public, but was expected to be between 25-30 for Island County. Only about one in every five men would be placed in class one.
The presidential election was expected to amass a large number of voters. Franklin D. Roosevelt headed the Democratic ticket on the national level. F.W. Hamlin was running for county assessor; H.S. Green was running for county commissioner, District. No. 1; and W.A. Hurlbert was running for county commissioner, District No. 2. Norman Thomas was representing the Socialists in the presidential election; John W. Aiken represented the Socialist-Labor party; Earl Browder represented the Communist party; Roger W. Babson represented the Prohibition ticket.
A talented 16-year-old singer, Thelma Rhodes, died suddenly of a “form of sleeping sickness.” Rhodes had been ill for two weeks prior to her death. The loss shook the community, of which she was a prominent member. Rhodes had participated in many Oak Harbor High School activities including Glee Club and cheerleading.
50 years ago
The Carabba vs. Anacortes and Oak Harbor School Districts lawsuit was underway. Steve Carabba, age 19 of Anacortes, was suing for half a million dollars after being totally paralyzed due to an incident at a wrestling match Jan. 31, 1963, in Anacortes against Oak Harbor. The plaintiff contended that the school districts were liable for the damages to his person. Carabba had difficulty speaking, but was able to relate what he recalled. He said the opponent had applied a full Nelson, which he had resisted before feeling a sharp stab in his neck and blacking out. Carabba had previously sustained an injury to his chin and his ear. Les Hogan, who had been the coach at Oak Harbor High School at the time of the incident, said he had not seen the referee take his eyes off the wrestlers. He also testified that the hold that was applied was legal, though it could have been easily confused for a full Nelson. Hogan said he had been taking detailed notes, and had a better view than any of the spectators and could see the wrestlers’ hands clearly.
Three young men were apprehended for vandalism after going on a “wild nighttime spree” in their car. They had been trying to wreck the car because the driver was “mad at it.” They had initially intended to drive it over a cliff at West Beach, but changed their minds. They then embarked on a two-and-a-half hour run without headlights, running over mailboxes and garbage cans before going to Ault Field, where they ran down barricades in an attempt to demolish the car. The driver was charged with reckless driving, hit and run property damage and malicious destruction of private property. The other two were charged with aiding and abetting in the same offenses.
25 years ago
Thomas Thayer, the man who had started the fire which destroyed Island Thrift in Oak Harbor in June, was found insane and committed to a mental institution. Thayer was acquitted of first- degree arson after pleading innocent by reason of insanity. Bill Hawkins, chief criminal prosecutor for Island County, and Hawkins’ defense attorney Peter Brady, said Thayer did not understand what he was doing when he burned the store. Thayer would be treated in a ward for the criminally insane at Western State Hospital in Fort Steilacoom. Thayer had escaped Western State Hospital in May, having admitted himself five months earlier after a psychotic episode. When he was questioned about the arson, Thayer said God had told him to do it. Later, he confessed to a psychologist that he thought it was the “devil’s house…it was devilish like.”
Jackie Henderson took her seat on the Coupeville School board. Henderson said she would like to “build more community around schools.” Henderson said she recognized that teachers faced “incredible responsibility” and were responsible for more things each year, such as AIDS education, alcohol awareness and drug abuse prevention.
