Caption: Turning 90 years old was cause for celebration Friday for friends and family of Bud Gress. When his grandson, Rob Gress and great-grandson, Trevor Gress, 3, took him for lunch at Fourth Street Cafe, Gress didn’t expect to be greeted by friends toting 90 helium-filled balloons. But he took the surprise in stride as he stood on the corner watching the launching of balloons (Also pictured were: Jean Walker and Barbara Cranor. Not pictured, but helping deliver the balloons, was Marie DeMaranville.).

Deaths: Mrs. Edna Loraine Dunlap, age 81, Tonganoxie, died March 5, 2003; Samuel Kelsall lll, Houston, age 92, died March 3, 2003; Blaine Edward Reed, 34, Tonganoxie, died March 8, 2003, following an automobile accident, Mrs. Elma Macleod Schuetze, 85, Tonganoxie, died March 6, 2003.

Search for roots proves fruitful: (by Lisa Scheller) He wrote wanting to know if we had information about his great-great grandfather. (Steve Argilla, Hayward, Calif., was asking about George R. Broadbere, founder of The Mirror in 1882.) The caption under a picture Scheller had framed and on her desk : “George R. Broadbere, a former British sailor, founded The Mirror newspaper in 1882. He is shown here with his printer, who is at left.” (The article continued with much information about the family, including the fact the printer was one-armed.)

Caption under picture: Jeff Hiller checks out his 5-month-old bettas, fish bred in his basement hatchery. To Hiller, who has been raising bettas since he was a teenager, the six hours a week it takes to care for the fish is worth it. (Mr. Hiller was president of the International Betta Congress, a non-profit international organization. A betta show and auction was scheduled for March 22 at the Leavenworth County Fairgrounds. 20 breeders from across the United States and other countries were expected to show about 400 to 500 fish.) The bettas were also called Siamese fighting fish and were known for their brilliant colors as well as their aggressive behavior.

25 years ago: March 2, 1988

Shirley Kasper, R.D., has received an award from the Dairy Council of Greater Kansas City for her work in nutrition education. A Community Citation was presented to her at the council’s annual meeting luncheon Feb. 5, 1988, at the Alameda Plaza Hotel in Kansas City.

The Walter Haines house, between Tonganoxie and McLouth, burned Saturday morning. This was the DeFrees home for a long time, as well as the Daniels home. The cause of the fire was an exploded coffee maker.

Artist in residence, Ann Gower: Ann Gower, local artist, at the age of 6 began drawing trees, horses and wildlife, knowing that some day she would seek a career as an artist. Today she has a studio here in Tonganoxie (Ms. Gower was to paint a mural in honor of Grace E. and Helen Schilling. It was commissioned in August. A sketch of the mural was pictured with Ms. Gower.).

The Tonganoxie Junior High Spelling Champion is Melanie Brushwood. She won first place in the school spelling “Bee” held Feb. 16, 1988. Members of the Tonganoxie Junior High Spelling Team were Melanie Brushwood, Bobby Jo Cline, Nick Olson, Steven Moore, Evan Dean and Jenny McMahon.

Deaths: Velma V. Farmer, 78, Lawrence, died Feb. 24, 1988; Gladys F. Wallace, 85, Tonganoxie, died Feb. 27, 1988, in Oskaloosa; L. Violet Cox, 74, Tonganoxie, died Feb. 2, 1988, at her home; Joseph Carl Morgan, 66, Tonganoxie, died Feb. 28, 1988.

50 years ago: March 21, 1963

Birth: Mr. and Mrs. Hyrum Huskey, a son, Richard Wayne, born March 16.

Mr. and Mrs. Orval Lowe, Tonganoxie, will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary March 31.

Fairmount: Mr. W.C. Walden showed slides of his trip through Canada and Alaska at the Basehor Bobcat Booster meeting Thursday afternoon at the high school.

Mr. and Mrs. Clyde Davidson, Lawrence, formerly of Tonganoxie, recently celebrated their 49th wedding anniversary with a dinner at their home.

75 years ago: Feb. 24, 1938

Mrs. Jesse Frazier, a lifelong resident of Leavenworth County, died Friday, Feb. 18, at Memorial Hospital in Lawrence from an injury sustained in a fall at her home.

Mrs. Josephine Collins died Monday morning at her home in Lawrence, Kansas. She was 79 years, 1 month and four days old.

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Mason are the proud parents of a three-pound and fourteen-ounce baby son, born Feb. 19, in Leavenworth. The little fellow is so small that his basket is equipped with an electric bulb to supply extra heat and he is being fed with a medicine dropper.

Linwood: Joseph A. Magrath, age 84 years, 11 months and 25 days died Friday morning at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Bessie Montgomery, in Kansas City, Kan.

Basehor: Drayton M. Luther, age 81, died early Tuesday at the home of his son, Ed Luther, on U.S. 40 west of here.

From “It Happened in Kansas” by F. A. Cooper: A city ordinance in Dodge City forbids owners of pet buffalo to allow their pets to run at large. It has been 50 years since there were pet buffalo in the city … Most of the early settlers, unacquainted with the cottonwood, constructed their first homes entirely from this tree. Soon, pioneer letters and journals made note of the unusual warping qualities of cottonwood lumber. One pioneer wrote “My humble home writhed in agony with each change of weather. Cracks and windows appeared where none had been before. I awoke one rainy morning to find myself a prisoner in my own home. The door was stuck so tight that I was forced to chop my way out” but, strangely enough, some pioneer buildings were made of the finest lumber to be had, walnut … There are buildings still standing that are made entirely of walnut. Even their shingles are of this fine wood.

100 years ago: March 6, 1913

Mrs. M.M. Wardwell, living two miles and a half northeast of Linwood, died Sunday from the effects of an operation performed three weeks previously in a Kansas City hospital. Mrs. Wardwell was 43 years of age and she leaves a husband and a large family of children.

Today Perry McKeehen, the Star carrier, is 78 years old. He has figured it out and finds that he travels about six miles a day making his deliveries, and part of the time carries about 50 pounds. Mr. McKeehen thinks he is making a good showing for a man of his age.

The Northwestern was using two locomotives on its eastbound passenger Monday morning to buck snow on the west end.

At the Grange meeting March 13, Perry Ford will talk on the new silo ,which he has just had patented.

The Union Pacific officials were asked a few days ago what they would charge for running the motor over the road next Sunday to Lawrence. Hold your breath. The answer came back: $150.