100 years ago
- Fifty-six turkeys met their fate at the shootout at George Case’s country home. It was reported that all attendees enjoyed themselves, and a lunch was served by Mrs. Case. Chas. Wolfsen was the best shot, carrying away six birds. Mayor Ely went away with two.
- Frederick Miller, a five-year-old Coupeville boy, was almost instantly killed while coasting down the sidewalk of the street with another boy. There was a team hitched close to the walkway, and in trying to turn his little wagon aside, it overturned, throwing the boy directly beneath the feet of the horses, which becoming suddenly frightened, began to kick and rear. John LeSourd, who was some distance away, ran to the scene and dragged Freddy away from the horses, but it was too late to save the boy’s life.
75 years ago
- Senator Pearl A. Wanamaker, state superintendent of public-instruction-elect, was the first citizen of Island County to have served as a state official. Wanamaker had prior experience teaching in a one-room grade school, upper-grade teaching, serving as principal of a grade school, teaching high school and serving as county superintendent. She also served as a member of the state house of representatives in 1929, 1933 and 1935. She returned to Olympia as a state senator during the sessions of 1937 and 1939.
- A fire of undetermined origin broke out on the farm of Ed Adamson, located at Scenic Heights. The fire was discovered in the barn while Mr. Adamson was away, and the barn was razed to the ground before help arrived. Two calves perished in the flames and the loss also included all of his hay, baled straw, five tons of mangel beets and one large brooder.
50 years ago
- A car sank in Pass Lake, carrying a Navy lieutenant to his death. James Koenemann, the victim, was able to push his wife Mary Jo from the car before it went under the water. She reached the shores of the lake safely. According to a witness Mrs. Gordon Hines, the first man on the scene helped Mary Jo Koenemann from the water, but he was unable to swim and was thus unable to help her husband. State Trooper Warren Maynard believed James Koenemann fell asleep at the wheel just before the car veered off the highway and into the water. James Koenemann’s foot became stuck in the wreckage and he was unable to escape.
- Island County Prosecutor Richard Pitt and Island County Sheriff Arnold Freund said they planned no change in policy toward gambling in the county regardless of the outcome of Initiative 34. The prosecutor said he would prosecute anyone the sheriff or other law enforcement officers arrested on gambling charges but did not contemplate initiating any action. The sheriff said he, too, did not plan to initiate any action.
25 years ago
- Island County merchants remained optimistic that the usual holiday retail rush would occur despite an economic recession and threats of war in the Middle East. While the recession was expected to have some impact, merchants on North Whidbey suspected tensions in the Middle East would have a greater effect due to their location. More than 2,000 personnel from Whidbey Island Naval Air Station were in the Mideast with Operation Desert Shield.
- Area schools prepared for the worst as tensions rose in the Middle East. The Oak Harbor School District laid out a support network for the hundreds of Oak Harbor children who had parents or siblings deployed in the Persian Gulf. In particular, school officials prepared to handle the possibility of children’s family members dying overseas. They also responded to students’ and families’ anxieties over extended deployments and awareness of the threat of war in the Middle East. Approximately 1,100 to 1,400 of the district’s 6,000 students had family members involved in Operation Desert Shield.
