The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
Compiled and Edited by Virginia Ross
THEY WON THE COUNTY MEET: (Today with the internet and television allowing us to instantly be involved in events, we don’t understand how important local contests were to the people of 1927; this was their big day! Local heroes were representing the town’s honor and crowds followed to join in and bask in their glory.)
The Seventh Annual Henderson County High School Association Track and Field Meet held at Stronghurst on last Friday proved a closely contested one, especially between Media, Biggsville and Stronghurst. All of the places were won with creditable performances and several records were broken or equaled. Of the seven schools that are members of the league but six were entered; Gladstone was not participating this year because of lack of sufficient eligible athletes. Terre Haute with one second and a third accumulated 4 points and placed sixth in the meet. Lomax placed fifth with 5 points having won one second and two thirds. Oquawka came fourth with 6 points having captured one second and three third places. The total for the other three schools although higher were correspondingly close. Media with four first places, three seconds and one third accumulated 30 points and ranked third in the meet. Thirty-four points were gained by Biggsville with four firsts, four seconds and two thirds. Stronghurst won the meet with 38 points having placed in all but one event and taking five first places, three seconds and four thirds.
The day being very windy made it very unfavorable for long distance running. Kenneth Sanderson should receive a double portion of credit for shattering by 3/5 of a second the 880-yard run record set by Shoemate of Terre Haute in 1924 with a time of 2:12 2-5. E. Kane of Biggsville deserves much credit for his throw of 168 ft. 9 in. in the Javelin which beat the record set by H. Smith in 1926 of eleven feet and nine inches. E. Whiteman of Biggsville tied the record in the 100- yard dash set by C. Vaughn of Media in 1925 of 10 1-5 seconds. Other especially noteworthy performances were the throwing of the discus 114 ft. 7 in by Woodward of Stronghurst and Campbell of Media putting the shot 42 feet and 7 in. and running and broad jumping 20 feet two and ¾ inches.
Clarence Harvey’s winning first in the 220-yard dash was a source of much satisfaction to Stronghurst as well as many Henderson County fans. Clarence is a senior and has been on winning relay teams and has won points in meets for Stronghurst during each of his four years in high school, but it was not until last Friday that he won a gold medal. He has been the principal cause of Stronghurst’ s winning many a relay cup and he has a large number of second and third place medals, but in each of the past four years he has had to compete with men who were unusually fast in the dashes; he always gave them a good race and time after time would come within a few inches of winning first place. He never gave up and kept trying and on last Friday he won his gold medal, placing first in the 220-yard dash, his last race for Stronghurst High School. Coach Nicholas says Harvey trains faithfully and was always dependable. (summary of events follows).
COLOMA CLIPS: Mr. and Mrs. James Kilgore visited the lady’s mother, Mrs. Charles Essex, who is a patient in the Burlington Hospital. The members of the Biggsville Gladstone Calf Club held their organization meeting Saturday evening in the William Whiteman home Officers for the coming year were elected as follows: President-William Whiteman, Jr.; Vice-President-Boyd Stevenson; Secretary- Erwin Lukens. Nine members were enrolled. Ernest Walker of Stronghurst and Page Randall who were chosen leaders met with the boys. Misses Adeline Stevenson and Thelma Lyons went to Bloomington to enter the state commercial meet. Carl Swedlund shipped hogs to Chicago and accompanied them. Carl and his family are enjoying a new Ford touring car. Clifford Kessenger went to Green Bay where he has employment. If the weather is favorable, much corn will be planted this week. Quite a lot of plowing remains to be done.
OBITUARY: MRS. PAULINE POHREN- The death of Mrs. Pauline Pohren, 17, daughter of Mrs. Ethel Barner of Burlington, occurred at her home in Chicago following a ten weeks illness of pneumonia. Mrs. Pohren will be remembered as Miss Pauline Westlake and was born May 6, 1910 at LaHarpe, Ill. and was a former resident of this community. She attended the Coloma School for several years and then attended Burlington High School. She was a member of the United Presbyterian Church. She is survived by her husband, Clayton Pohren of Chicago; three sisters-Mrs. Vera Harris, Miss Dona Lee and Evelyn Westlake of Burlington and one brother, Virgil Westlake of Brooklyn, N.Y. Her father preceded her in death several years ago. Funeral services were held at the Biggsville United Presbyterian Church with interment in the Biggsville Cemetery.
RARITAN REPORTS: After the movie in the opera house last Saturday night, the R.B.C. presented a one-act farce entitled, “Cupid in Shirt Sleeves.” (Wouldn’t this be fun if this was recreated as a fundraiser for the opera house or historical society!) Miss Helena Barry has been re-engaged to teach at the Cox School. The Barry School of which Miss Anna LaVelle was teacher, celebrated its closing day with a picnic. The mothers served a delicious repast of cake, chocolate ice cream and candy. Afterwards a business meeting was held to discuss improvement to the school house and grounds. The Raritan Community Club is to give a Mothers’ and Daughters’ banquet on Saturday night in the basement of the Baptist Church. The plates are to be sold for 50 cents each. The April and May birthday social of the Reformed Church was held Saturday night in the church basement. Chicken, noodles, mashed potatoes, bread, butter, pickles, ice cream, cake and coffee were served beginning at six o’clock. The ninth annual session of the Wild Life School at McGregor, Iowa is to be held August 7-18. A tuition of $5.00 is charged and one can rent a cottage or a room. Lectures on birds, rocks, trees, insects, plants, stars, mammals, Indian archaeology, landscape design, outdoor photography, etc. are given in the morning and nights in a comfortable outdoor pavilion while the rest of the day is spent in hikes and sightseeing. The last day will be an excursion up the Mississippi River.