Band sweeps up at Liberty Bowl: The Marching Chieftains excelled during competitions last week at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tenn. The band, its director (Charles VanMiddlesworth) and their sponsors were ecstatic after their arrival home last Wednesday night. (The band hauled home four trophies and five plaques, but that’s not all of its winnings, said Heather Melchior. “We have another trophy coming in the mail because we tied with somebody else,” Melchior said. (Mr. VanMiddlesworth had brought home a souvenir football from the previous Cotton Bowl trip, and asked the kids to be on the watch for a Liberty Bowl football he could buy. To his delight, a group of band members bought a football for him, and just before sitting down for a group photo outside the stadium, gave the football to him — complete with all their signatures.)

Death: Antonio M. “Tony” Molina, 67, LaCrosse, Wis., died Dec. 25, 2002. (Mr. Molina had formed a chorus of 14- to 19-year-old students in Tonganoxie called The Young Christian Minstrels.)

Tonganoxie resident Ted Anton has retired after serving 21 years with the Air National Guard. Anton comes from a military background. His father, George, was an Air Force pilot. Ted’s sister, Penny Marshall, who is in the Air Force, works in intelligence in the space command center, and Ted’s brother, Eric, who served 11 years in the Air Force, now is a pilot for Federal Express.

Birth: David and Marci Purcell, Basehor, announce the birth of a daughter, Ava Ruth Purcell, Dec. 10, 2002.

25 years ago: Dec. 30, 1987

Mrs. Prudence (Young) Meek, formerly of Tonganoxie and well known here, will celebrate her 90th birthday on Jan. 4, 1988. She is a sister-in-law of Mrs. Arthur (Mildred) Young, and an aunt to the Larry Myers family of rural Tonganoxie. Mrs. Meek lives in Roseburg, Ore.

Mr. and Mrs. Floyd Eberth were married Dec. 9, 1962, in Piper. An open house honoring their 25th anniversary was hosted on Dec. 13, 1987 by their children and grandchildren.

Deaths: Harlan Fredrick Willits, 71, McLouth, died Dec. 25, 1987; Mrs. Katherine Pearl Schmitt, 65, Holton, died Dec. 25, 1987.

Births: Gary and Melinda Heise of Overland Park are proud to announce the birth of their first child, a daughter, Miranda Lynn, born Dec. 22, 1987; Carl and Carol Latham of RR 1, Lawrence, proudly announce the birth of their son, Christopher Allen, Dec. 27, 1987; Butch and Sandra Rodgers are proud to announce the birth of their daughter, Rachel Lynne, born Dec. 20, 1987; Mr. and Mrs. Randy Nelson of Elizabeth, Colo., announce the birth of a son, Justin Tyler, (no date given); Randy and Sue Kingsolver of McLouth would like to announce the birth of a son, Blake Elliott, born Dec. 23, 1987.

50 years ago: Dec. 17, 1963

Smoke Signals by J.J.N. (Jere Neibarger): According to our desk calendar, several famous men were born in January. Benjamin Franklin on Jan. 17; Robert E. Lee, Jan. 19; Stonewall Jackson, Jan. 21; General Douglas McArthur, Jan. 26; William McKinley, Jan. 29; and Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jan. 30. On many occasions, this writer stood outside McArthur’s headquarters in Tokyo just to catch a glimpse of this great man. It was always worth the trouble and still would be.

Death: Mrs. Anna Elizabeth Wood, 89, Santa Anita, Calif., died Jan. 13, 1963. Mrs. Wood was born March 1, 1873, in Tonganoxie to William and Mary Todd Jones.

Reno: Gerald Wedel received a dairy production award in the county and Carol Lee received a safety award at the Business Men’s banquet at Leavenworth for county 4-H’ers. They are members of the Happy Helpers Club.

Mayginnis School News: Elizabeth E. Jones, Teacher: Mr. and Mrs. Joe Poyner gave MayGinnis boys and girls a very nice Christmas present. It was a General Electric Add-Venture Kit Weather Station. The primary grades also received some tile samples from the Hunter Lumber Company. They have a great deal of fun with them during their free period.

75 years ago: Dec. 23, 1937

Jarbalo: W.D. (Bud) Roach, 78, died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. T.E. Jaseph, Dec. 14, after several months of illness … Friends received a message recently from Mrs. Lynda B. Carlson Henson, telling of the Dec. 7 death of her mother, Mrs. Frank Carlson, Jamestown, following an operation.

Funeral services for Herman Newman, Little Blue, Mo., who died Dec. 18, were held this afternoon at Rumsey Chapel.

School and Program at the McGinnis School, Thursday night, Dec. 23. All are invited. Helen B. Seymour, Teacher.

Linwood: Mr. A. B. Haney, 78, passed away Saturday morning at his home.

From “It Happened in Kansas” by F. A. Cooper: 7-feet-2 inches, set of horns brought from Texas during the early cattle days. Owned by The Stock Exchange Bank of Caldwell … Cowtown Justice, In 1868 when Abilene was the cowboy capital of the United States a man was brought before the local justice of the peace charged with stealing a saddle. The verdict was “The prisoner is innocent, but he must return the saddle.” … The Texas Longhorn was certainly a cattle judges’ nightmare. Its only good point was an amazing ability to thrive in any locality and to protect itself from wild animals, but it played a more important part in the development of Kansas than the best breeds of cattle today. It created and gave wealth to such pioneer “cow towns” as Abilene, Caldwell, Wichita, Ellsworth and Dodge City. Strangely enough, the first cattle to reach Abilene in 1867 were not welcome. The settlers, as usual, could see no wealth in the vast herds coming into Kansas from Texas and appointed men to stampede them from the country.

100 years ago: Jan. 2, 1913

Plasterers have been at work on the new Cain store the past week, and are now through. The front of the store is not yet in.

Arthur Wiley started to break in a new mail wagon last week, and is now well fixed for the parcels post on Route 3. The wagon is a striking one in appearance.

Charles E. Brown left for Lawton, Okla., yesterday to stay until spring, giving his ventriloquial entertainments in that country.

Harvey and Charlie Jones were badly shaken up and considerably bruised by being thrown from a wagon in a runaway at the Union Pacific depot Tuesday. Harvey Jones sustained a badly skinned face and a sprained left wrist, and his brother was hurt in his back and had to have two stitches taken in his scalp where he received a cut. The brothers were driving south in a wagon drawn by a mule team, and had reached the front of the mill when the engineer blew the whistle for noon. The noise frightened the mules and they at once became unmanageable. They turned sharply to the west, and when they got to the Union Pacific tracks they made another sharp turn which threw the occupants out. The team was stopped a short distance up Fifth street without much damage.

Danville, Ill.: William Green, 101 years old, an employee in the postal service, is dead here. He was on the federal payroll continuously for 73 years.