Deaths: Gary Bishop, 51, Basehor, died Dec. 17, 2002; Mildred V. New, 89, Leavenworth, died Dec. 27, 2002; Doris Lorene Powell, 82, Guthrie Center, Iowa, died Dec. 25, 2002; Richard Harry “Dick” Ristow, 70, Hermitage, Mo., died Dec. 18, 2002.

A Leavenworth youth, Dan Lemm, has been appointed to the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., by U.S. Senator Pat Roberts, R-Kan.

Several area students have been named to Baker University’s fall 2002 Honor Roll. These students earned a minimum 3.5 grade-point average on a 4.0 scale. Students are Annette M. Evans and Matthew K. Needham, Tonganoxie; Jeremy G. Wohletz, Basehor; and Meridith J. Rosenbaum, Leavenworth.

There was plenty of basketball Sunday in the Tonganoxie High School gymnasium. A basketball camp sponsored by the Tonganoxie High boys and girls basketball teams attracted 88 students. The event brought in students from kindergarten, through sixth grade. The first grade had the most campers with 17, while there were 16 second-graders. Pictured were Derek Sparks, Sarah Swain, Maggie Franiuk and Ali George.

25 years ago: Dec. 23, 1987

The LaSertoma and Sertoma Clubs held their annual Christmas dinner on Thursday evening, Dec. 10, 1987, in the party room of Bitler’s Bar-B-Que. The tables were attractively decorated in keeping with the Christmas season. Canned foods were brought for our needy instead of our Christmas gift exchange.

Mr. and Mrs. Henry Johnson of Leavenworth will celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary with a reception on Dec. 27, 1987, from 2 to 4 p.m. At the Lansing 4-H Building.

Happenings In and Around Tonganoxie (Helen Schilling): To each one of you, we wish you a merry, merry Christmas! Please remember the true meaning of Christmas, and give thanks for your many blessings.

Deaths: George S. Hallenbeck, 77, rural Lawrence, died Sunday; Cynthia Woodhead Chapman, 89, formerly of Tonganoxie, died Dec. 16, 1987, in Kansas City, Kan.; Carol G. Freeman, 67, Tonganoxie, died Dec. 19, 1987.

Saturday, Dec. 19, Santa Claus and his helper, Tammy, visited with youngsters and listened to requests for Christmas. As they sat in front of the decorated tree in the lobby of the First State Bank of Tonganoxie, Santa was joined by Joe Coffman and Brian Plake, who had the longest list of wishes! A Happy Saturday morning for all.

50 years ago: Jan. 10, 1963

Births: Mr. and Mrs. Wilbur Kingsolver have named their son, who was born on Dec. 25 (Christmas Day), Scott; Mr. and Mrs. William W. Taylor announce the birth of their son, Wade, born Jan. 4, 1963.

Deaths: Theodore (Ted) Weeks, Tonganoxie, died Jan. 3, 1963 at the age of 56 years; John Allen Prater, Basehor, died Jan. 3, 1963 at the age of 53 years.

Mr. and Mrs. Walter Smith of RR 1, Basehor, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary at the home of their son and daughter-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Everett Smith and family, RR 2, Tonganoxie.

Linwood: Mrs. Alice Meinke had her 89th birthday Jan. 5. She has been in very poor health the past year.

Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Pickens are the parents of a son born Jan. 3, 1963.

Mrs. Leonard Owens received word of the death of her aunt, Mrs. Jess Dewey of Denver. Mrs. Dewey was the former Minnie Lee before her marriage and she was raised in the Tonganoxie community and went to school here. Funeral services were held Jan. 7 in Denver.

75 years ago: Dec. 16, 1937

A serious accident was narrowly averted in Tonganoxie when a Stranger Township farmer was pussyfooting along the ice Tuesday morning, slipped and bit the end off his pipe.

Mr. and Mrs. Harry McGraw announce the birth of a son Dec. 10, 1937, to whom they have given the name of Leo Francis.

Herman Hurla was quite painfully injured last week when his truck ran over him when he was trying to crank it.

Easton: Donald Dodd, 16, together with another boy and two girls of Topeka, was killed last Sunday at Perry when the car in which they were riding was hit by a Rock Island train. Dodd was a brother of Jack Dodd, who was killed a year ago with his brother-in-law in an airplane crash on the Lester Thompson farm west of town.

Mr. and Mrs. Ivan Sechrest plan to leave Saturday for Los Angeles. They will make the trip in a new Ford, which Lemuel Evans is driving out from Detroit. Mr. Evans left Saturday night for Detroit to bring the car back to Tonganoxie.

From “It Happened in Kansas” by F.A. Cooper: Kansas once had a law compelling all car owners to stop at the edge of town and telephone a warning to the citizens before driving their “horseless buggy” into the city limits … An air mail letter mailed in New York City at noon one day was delivered at its destination in Montezuma at noon the next day — just seven times faster than the fastest pioneer service, The Pony Express.

100 years ago: Dec. 26, 1912

Leavenworth has had 12 deaths of little children from scarlet fever lately.

The Bonner Springs cement plant is temporarily shut down while changing from oil to coal burning of the cement.

E.C. McNerney has the swellest calendar that ever came to town. The printing is embossed and the design is tasty without being gaudy.

The county poor farm is to be sold. This is the farm that the joker says is so poor that if it was used for a cemetery the Lord could not raise the dead on resurrection day.

The moon was brighter Monday than it has been for several hundred years. At midnight it was straight above us and did not cast a shadow. It will be more than 100 years before it happens again.

Miss Minnie Lee was home from Oskaloosa for Christmas.

First Use of Mahogany: Its Beauty for Furniture Was Discovered Accidentally-Carpenter Found it Hard to Work: Mahogany was first used in the repair of some of Sir Walter Raleigh’s ships at Trinidad in 1597. The discovery of the beauty of the grain for furniture was accidental. A Dr. Gibbons was building a house in King Street, Covent Garden. His brother, a West Indiaman captain, had brought over some planks of mahogany as ballast. He thought the wood might be used in the house, but the carpenters found the wood too hard for their tools and objected. Mrs. Gibbons shortly afterwards wanted a small box made. So the doctor sent the mahogany to a cabinet maker. He also complained the wood was too hard. But the doctor insisted as he wanted to preserve some of the wood as a memento of his brother. The finished box polished so nicely that the doctor ordered a bureau made of the same wood. The cabinet maker displayed that in the window before delivering it. The Duchess of Buckingham saw it and begged enough wood from the doctor to have it duplicated. Mahogany furniture soon after came into popular favor.

The Boy Scouts of Troop 2 most pleasantly surprised Scoutmaster John Christensen Tuesday by bringing him a china Santa Claus and a snap-shot camera. The scoutmaster wishes all the boys a very Happy New Year.