(Picture) Stephen Daniel Firuccia, 15, Tonganoxie, has earned the highest advancement the Boy Scouts of America offers, the Eagle Award. Each candidate must earn 21 merit badges and successfully complete a community, church or synagogue related service project to earn his Eagle. Firuccia chose to landscape the north side of the public library.

Birth: Daniel and Jenny Thurston of Basehor announce the birth of their daughter, Ashley Marie, born Dec. 6, 1995.

Truman and Odessa Simmons will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary at a reception given by their children, Sunday, Dec. 17 from 2-5 p.m. at Landmark Missionary Baptist Church, Kansas City.

Deaths: Byron Dean Allison, 35, Cashmere, Wash., died Dec. 6. Irene Eads, 50, Bonner Springs, died Dec. 5. Mary Frances Dail, 81, Basehor, died Dec. 7. George L. Newkirk, 68, Tonganoxie, died Dec. 4. Derald L. Pouppirt, 61, Basehor, died Dec. 11, 1995.

Richard Erickson, 41, will succeed Phil Johnston as school superintendent beginning on July 1, 1996. Erickson is currently the superintendent of USD 448 in Inman.

25 years ago: Dec. 10, 1980

Cpl. Steven R. Campbell, son of Mr. and Mrs. LeRoy Campbell of Rt. 2, Tonganoxie, was honorably discharged from the United States Marine Corps Dec. 7, 1980.

Linwood News: Services for Mrs. Bonnie J. Raney, 56, rural Linwood, were held at 2 p.m. on Saturday in the United Methodist Church at Reno, Kan. Mrs. Raney was born Aug. 8, 1924, and died Wednesday. She had lived in the Linwood area for the past 22 years.

Deaths: James Bernard Curry, 72, Topeka, died Tuesday at his home. Funeral services were held Monday, Dec. 8, 1980, for Myra (Angell) Schuppan, age 93, in Falls City, Neb. She was born in Tonganoxie, Jan. 31, 1887. Ernst Edward Freienmuth, son of Jacob and Louisa Ernst Freienmuth was born in Tonganoxie on Dec. 12, 1894, and passed away Dec. 1, 1980, at his home in Rocky River, Ohio.

Mrs. Pat (Mabel) Lenahan will be celebrating her 95th birthday this week, Dec. 12. Her sister, Miss Margaret McCaffrey, also past 90, celebrated her birthday Sunday.

Mr. and Mrs. George Cooper attended a memorial service, Sunday, Dec. 7, at Richards Gebaur Base in Grandview, Mo., for members of the 442nd military airlift, which is now called the 442nd Taw. Nineteen years ago they lost a plane with a crew of seven, and each year they have services. Mr. Cooper is a retired colonel in the Air Force and was attached to the 442nd.

50 years ago: Dec. 29, 1955

Married 50 Years: Mr. and Mrs. J.E. Leighty were married Dec. 25, 1905, in Garden City, Mo., in the home of her parents.

A Leavenworth County teacher, who became ill while directing a Christmas program at her school near Tonganoxie, died Friday morning, Dec. 23. She was Mrs. Eunice Pomeroy, a teacher at Hawk Hollow school. John Kemler, 83, Bonner Springs, died Thursday. Mr. Kemler was born in Iowa. He had lived near Bonner Springs the past 80 years.

Joseph Haney, 87, who was buried at Lenape Tuesday, had been a Topeka grocer since 1917.

Linwood: Mr. and Mrs. Walter Coulter and sons were Christmas Day guests at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Ray Coulter in Topeka.

A family reunion with turkey and all the trimmings was held on Christmas Day at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Chris Rasmussen.

Linwood: Little Terry Berry, 5-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. C.E. Berry, is showing some improvement. He has been a patient in St. Margaret’s Hospital since Thanksgiving.

George Baker was installed as new President of Kiwanis Monday night, succeeding James Watson, who served the past year.

75 years ago: Dec. 4, 1930

John Klinkenberg, 67 years of age, who spent most of his life near Basehor, died Thursday noon at a hospital in Kansas City, where he had been a patient for some time. Mr. Klinkenberg was born April 5, 1863, in the village of Bategun, Holland, and came with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Klinkenberg, to Kansas in 1871.

Thelma Smith, 20 years old, living at Denzer station about eight miles south of Tonganoxie, was fatally injured about one o’clock Tuesday afternoon, when the Chevrolet car which she was driving, accompanied by her father, collided with a west bound interurban car. The father, who is 71 years of age, sustained only minor cuts and bruises.

Mrs. H.A. Silks, 61 years old, a resident of Honey Valley district south of Tonganoxie, passed away at the home of her daughter in Kansas City, Kan., early Thanksgiving morning. Mrs. Silks had lived in the Tonganoxie vicinity for three years.

When Clyde M. Reed, governor of Kansas, turns a spadeful of dirt on the site of the dam at Northeast Kansas State Park tomorrow, the project for this part of the state, concerning which much interest has been shown in recent years, will be officially started. The day will be given over to jollification over the letting of the contract on the huge dam, which costs in excess of a hundred thousand dollars.

Mr. and Mrs. Fred Papenhausen approach one of their great days, their golden wedding anniversary, which will be celebrated on Dec. 15, 1930. Fifty is quite a span of years to live in one town and with one wife. No better people live than Mr. and Mrs. Fred Papenhausen.

100 years ago: Dec. 14, 1905

John Nichols went to Oskaloosa one day last week to see his cousin who accidentally shot himself while hunting. He returned Saturday, and reported that his cousin was much better.

Born to Rev. and Mrs. Miles Maudlin, at Lawrence, Tuesday, a nine-pound son. Mrs Dessery is at Lawrence with her daughter.

Dr. Coe reports the arrival of boys last week, in the homes of Charles Sedgwick on Stranger, and Will Allen just south of town.

Clarence Chandler was down from Lawrence Sunday, visiting his uncle, Thos. Chandler. Clarence played in a band with the Parker Amusement Co. for a while this fall.

In one Leavenworth hospital six operations for appendicitis were performed in one week. It looks as though physicians are too eager and ready to apply the knife.

Henry Balliet, a former resident of Tonganoxie, died at his home in Iola, Monday, after several months’ illness, and the remains were brought here yesterday and interred in Maple Grove cemetery. (Mr. Balliet was at one time a partner of John D. Rockefeller, and was a member of the Standard Oil Company, when the great corporation was in its infancy. Along in the ’70s, Mr. Balliet went to Mr. Rockefeller one day, and told him that he guessed he would withdraw from the company, as he had seen a good many fortunes lost in the oil business, and did not want to lose his money. So, Mr. Rockefeller paid him $12,000 for his stock, and Mr. Balliet came west. Since that time the Standard Oil company’s growth has been one of the miracles of the century. But Mr. Balliet’s investment of $12,000 would undoubtably have been worth many millions by this time.)