In this installment of A Look Back in Time, the Friday, Oct. 11, 1935, edition of The Chronicle featured a story about 5-year-old Wilfred Reed, who saved his 1-year-old sister and another 2-year-old toddler from the family’s home when a fire started while both of his parents were out.
Chehalis residents Ralph and Elaine Roberts’ cocker spaniel named “Robbie’s Gift of Allah” won best of breed and best in show at the All-Breed Dog Show in Portland, according to the Tuesday, Oct. 11, 1955, edition of The Chronicle.
And in the Monday, Oct. 11, 1965, edition of The Chronicle, it was reported the Lewis County commissioners carried out “the first major overhaul” of 314 county road names after adopting a resolution to rename the roads to address safety concerns and avoid confusion.
A Look Back in Time is compiled using The Chronicle archives stored at the Lewis County Historical Museum — located at 599 NW Front St. in Chehalis — along with digital archives on newspapers.com.
Friday, Oct. 11, 1935
• Five-year-old Wilfred Reed was hailed “in role of hero” in the headline after saving two toddlers from a house fire, The Chronicle reported. “With the flames spreading rapidly around him, Wilfred Reed, five-year-old son of Mr. (William) Reed and Mrs. (Lucy Louisa) Reed, residing near Rochester, led his year-old sister and two-year-old Billie Haynes to safety as their home was destroyed by fire. Both the father and mother were absent, Mr. Reed being half a mile away cutting tie logs and Mrs. Reed having left only five minutes before for a short time. She returned in time to see the little boy leading the other children from the door. The little girl was burned about the hand, forehead and face, although not seriously.” Wilfred would go on to serve in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War as a machinist’s mate second class, and passed away at the age of 85 in 2016. He is buried at the Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent.
• Eleven Mutual Lumber Company employees were forced to jump from the logging train they were on when the trestle it was crossing collapsed about 10 miles east of Bucoda, The Chronicle reported. “Four of the men were injured, however. Charles Short, engineer, suffering a broken leg; Louis Hawkins, a bad scalp wound; A.G. Smith, brakeman, a bruised leg, and Robert Lee, a sprained ankle.” Smith and Lee had been returned to their homes in Bucoda along with the rest of the uninjured workers, while Short and Hawkins were taken to an Olympia hospital for treatment. “As the locomotive started across the trestle a stringer gave way and the train began to settle. The locomotive dropped 15 feet, landing on its side, and was so badly damaged it is doubtful if it will be repaired.”
• A possible location had been identified for the new federal post office in downtown Centralia, according to an “Associated Press report to The Daily Chronicle from Washington, D.C.,” The Chronicle reported. “Centralia’s new federal building will probably be located on the Dumon property at the southeast corner of Locust and Silver streets, facing the city park … Acceptance of this site from among 13 on which bids were opened by Postmaster Al Filson on September 4 has been recommended by a joint committee of the treasury and post office departments, the dispatch said.” The expected price tag for the new post office building was $98,000. “The next step toward erection of the new post office is unknown here, but it is presumed that plans will be drawn immediately and bids called as soon as the title has been secured to the land by the government.”
• Forty acres of land with 200-foot tall douglas fir trees on it listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $600, with the owner willing to “take good used car as part payment.”
Thursday, Oct. 11, 1945
• Three escapees from the Washington state training school in Chehalis — now known as the Green Hill School — were captured in Vancouver on Wednesday, The Chronicle reported. The boys were “in possession of an automobile they are said to have stolen from Fay T. Lyons at Napavine. The boys were Harold Hardin, 17; Marvin McWhorter, 15, and a third boy whose name was not given. They left school Tuesday at 4 p.m.”
• State Pollution Control Commission Director Jack Taylor had ordered a water quality survey to be conducted on the Chehalis River, which was where the City of Chehalis’ wastewater department had been dumping sewage, The Chronicle reported. “Prosecutor John Panesko of Lewis County met with pollution commissioners and reported on the need for a sewage disposal plant at Chehalis. He said county health and city officials have been petitioned many times to remedy the situation, but without definite results. Taylor said that after the survey is made, Chehalis officials will be advised what remedies must be made.”
• The Chronicle featured an Associated Press story about Austin (Minnesota) Police Department Chief Maynard Pratt attempting to rehabilitate an injured pelican after an “unidentified boy conked the pelican in the head with a rock,” leaving it walking in constant circles. Despite Pratt’s best efforts, the poor bird “was still walking around in circles today, and the chief said he was a little dizzy too. Pratt said his dizziness resulted from answering telephone calls from at least 100 persons who offered advice — none of it helpful — on how to treat the injured bird.”
• A five-room “semi-modern cottage” connected to city water on two acres of cleared land a mile north of Centralia was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $2,150.
Tuesday, Oct. 11, 1955
• Chehalis residents Ralph and Elaine Roberts’ cocker spaniel named “Robbie’s Gift of Allah” won best of the breed and best in show at the All-Breed Dog Show in Portland the previous week, The Chronicle reported. “Judging Robbie’s Gift of Allah in the breed division was Maurice L. Baker, Minneapolis, who assisted in the writing of the cocker spaniel standards for the American Kennel Club. The Portland dog show was sponsored by the Dog Fanciers Association of Oregon.”
• Chehalis resident Ronald D. Snaza, son of Peter and Emma Delilah Snaza, had enlisted in the U.S. Navy and was selected to be a part of the Navy’s new Evergreen Company according to his recruiter, Navy Chief Ernie Tannahill, The Chronicle reported. “The ‘Evergreen Company’ will be comprised of about 75 select men from Washington. Selection of the top men will be completed by Oct. 26, when the young men will be sworn in as a group at the Union Railroad Station in Seattle. Governor Arthur B. Langlie has been invited to be present for the 4 p.m. ceremony and present a flag for the honor company to carry to its training center at San Diego. The train will leave at 5 p.m. All relatives and friends are invited to attend the ceremony.”
• Napavine resident Newton J. Webber, 74, died Monday after suffering a “berserk beating” on Friday in his home at the hands of another Napavine man who was his brother-in-law, 59-year-old David Dyment, The Chronicle reported. “Little hope had been held for the beating victim since he entered the hospital. He never regained consciousness.” According to a Lewis County Sheriff’s Office report, Dyment had been “acting strangely” when he went to Webber’s home Friday afternoon and got into an argument with him. “After Mrs. (Theodosia) Webber fled, to seek help, he (Dyment) apparently seized a small calibre rifle and used it as a club. He struck Webber repeatedly. The rifle broke, its pieces smashing windows, and then he apparently beat the victim with a barrel. After officers arrived and captured Dyment, he fought furiously and smashed windows in a sheriff’s auto. Hospital attendants said Webber suffered severe head wounds and brain damage that ultimately brought his death.” Since his arrest, Dyment had remained violent, forcing Lewis County Jail staff to move him from a padded cell to restraining him in a “mental room for care. Officers said he probably will not appear in court, for he would have to be bound and carried there. Rather, examinations by a physician will be done in jail quarters.” In the Wednesday, Oct. 12, 1955, edition of The Chronicle, it was reported Dyment had been committed “immediately to Western State Hospital at Steilacoom,” after Lewis County Superior Court Judge John E. Murray declared he was insane. No other stories on Dyment could be found after he was sent to the state mental institution. A U.S. Army World War I veteran, Dyment passed away on Feb. 19, 1978, in Wenatchee, according to records on findagrave.com.
• A two-bedroom home on a “large lot” with hardwood floors, an attached garage and a garden in Chehalis was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $8,000. A “furnished apartment” in Centralia was listed for rent for $50 a month.
Monday, Oct. 11, 1965
• Lewis County commissioners approved “the first major overhaul” of county road names when they adopted a resolution renaming 314 roads, The Chronicle reported. “The traditional system of naming roads has resulted in a considerable amount of duplication and confusion, County Engineer Ernest Geissler pointed out. ‘In the interest of public safety it is most important that all roads be named in such a way they can be easily identified and located, especially in times of emergency,’ Geissler said. County heads said that in most instances original names of roads, often with pioneer names, will be selected for keeping as the road’s official name. They pointed out there are cases where a road that is 10 miles long has several names along its length. Eliminations of the surplus names will be made in these instances.”
• Speedclimber Kelly Stanley had returned to his home in Kosmos after a three-week exhibition tour in the southern hemisphere at Perth, Australia, The Chronicle reported. “It was his second trip to Australia in a year’s time. He will return to Australia in April, 1966, to do a Royal Easter Show in Sydney, he said. Meantime, he returned to work Monday at his highclimbing trade with Painter and Co., in the Mount Rainier area. Stanley’s specialties are an exhibition of speedclimbing a tree and a jump from the top of a spar tree.”
• A farm on 40 acres of land “four miles from center of Chehalis” with “additional land available” was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $15,000. A two-bedroom unfurnished home in Chehalis was listed for rent for $65 a month.
Saturday, Oct. 11, 1975
• A headline topping the front page read “Timber barons own biggest share of Lewis County,” after a recent analysis conducted by Lewis County Assessor Laurence Scherer, The Chronicle reported. “The biggest landowner in Lewis County is the Weyerhaeuser Company. In fact, timber barons own Lewis County period. Out of the 20 largest corporate landowners in the county, most of them are timber companies or paper mills. Lewis County has the largest timberland acreage in the state and the Weyerhaeuser Company owns about one-half of it.” Of the total 1.5 million acres of land in Lewis County, 756,698 acres were timberland with Weyerhaeuser owning 319,000 of those acres. “Next to Weyerhaeuser, the federal government is the second largest landowner in Lewis County. Uncle Sam has 306,960 acres and most of that is in national forest land. The State of Washington owns 102,820 acres and the cities, towns and county own a total of a little over 1,000 acres.”
• To mark the final day of National Newspaper Week on Oct. 11, The Chronicle honored its 93 newspaper delivery boys county-wide and 17 Deliver drivers. “Truly, your newspaper junior dealer is a youngster who takes responsibilities seriously and who will take his rightful place in later years among the business and professional leaders of tomorrow.” In the Twin Cities, paperboys (and papergirls) included Doug Chandler, Rick Ringel, Denise Keahey, Sam Kim, David Matson, Darwin Keahey, Rusty Luft, Chris Wasson, Billy Geist, Daniel Merrill, David Berry, Ricky Ambeau, Doug McClellan, Brian Davidson, Kary Mielitz, Mike McClellan, Brian Dorsey, Eric Koch, Randy Florek, Phillip Day, Jimmie Watson, Richard Dokken, Kris Wolden, Brian Valentine, Dan Kim, Lance Palmer, Cleve Noyes, David Oster, Steve Ambeau, Billy Ambeau, Duane Lusby, David Chappell, Kevin Smith, Mike Wagar, Robert Mikelsons, Chris Geist, Danny Mohney, Ken LaClair, Ronnie Norman, David Piper, Erik Zuber, David Anderson, Brett Spencer, Ricky Elam, Lynn Mordick, Ronnie Welch, Danny King, Paul Coty, Will Mueller, Laurie Adolphsen, Ryan Simpson, Kelli Aselton, Scott Blinks, Bruce Schlittler, Jerry Moran, Larry Jay, Pete Brefield, Callen Cavender, Fountain Butcher, Eric Swanson, Lon Anderson, Denise Goodwin, Russ Bayne, John Markstrom, Tim Carr, Reggie Macomber, Mark Hines, Mary K. Waltrip, Jimmie Dean and Lisa Swanson. Those tasked with paper delivery in rural areas included Robert Evans in Bucoda; Len Chamberlain in Galvin; Terry Petrich in Marsh Addition; Morris Gail, Sabrina Davis, Cheryl Lundberg and Darla Gail in Morton; Darrell Meyers and Rick Johnson in Mossyrock; Alan Walker, Johnny Klumper and Kirk Haslett in Napavine; Craid Kendall in Onalaska; Ronald Flock and Mary Henley in Pe Ell; Bill Weaver in Tenino; Randy Andrews and Tim Bond in Toledo; Mark McKnight in Vader and Rick Lewis, Curt McCleskey and Adam Scott in Winlock. Delivery drivers included Clyde Chamber Jr., Glen Fox, Emery Tiller, Carol Parrott, Roman Galster, Curtisene Erickson, Jeanette Fox, Donna Todd, Ruby Pigman, Bessie Chambers, Archie Hart, Mary Ridenour, Louis A. Adamucci, Roberta Mayer, Sunny Sue Cravens, Sally Galster and Myrtice Galster.
• A three-bedroom home on 20 acres of land with a barn, a “deep well” and creek access in Onalaska was listed for sale in The Chronicle’s classifieds for $35,000. A four-bedroom home in Chehalis was listed for rent for $175 a month.
