Peekin’ into the past

Five Years Ago —Dec. 22, 2016

Now releasing her 11th and 12th books, Haxtun resident and author Kimberley Woodhouse’s latest work offers a character that hits close to home — a character based on Cassidy Hale, a Holyoke High School student killed in a vehicle-pedestrian accident in September 2015. “In the Shadow of Denali” is the first in Woodhouse’s “The Heart of Alaska” trilogy cowritten with Tracie Peterson.

Officer Mary Seeley joined Holyoke Police Department on Dec. 12.

Ramiro and Idalia Ramos opened their new business, Bella’s Boutique, on Dec. 14 at 124 S. Interocean Ave. The boutique offers women’s fashion, jeans and intimates, as well as household furnishings like curtains and bedspreads, children’s clothing, and boots for both men and women. It will also house a space for Idalia to do gel manicures under the name Holyoke Butterfly Your Nails.

Ten Years Ago —Dec. 22, 2011

President Barack Obama announced Oct. 21 that all troops would leave Iraq by the end of the year. On Dec. 15, that announcement became a reality, according to many credible news sources.

About 22 area firefighters are in the middle of an extensive Firefighter One course in Holyoke. Firefighters from Holyoke, Amherst, Haxtun and Wages are participating in the class, which HVFD hopes to hold every two years through Northeastern Junior College.

Twenty-Five Years Ago — Dec. 26, 1996

Upon completion of her Master’s of Science degree in nursing as a family nurse practitioner, Cheryl Chesnut has joined the practice of her husband, Dr. Myrlen Chesnut, who has been a physician in Holyoke for 27 years. Chesnut Family Medicine is the new name for the clinic located on the east side of the Heginbotham Medical Center at 520 S. Interocean Ave.

Technology in Holyoke School District Re-1J took another step forward at its Dec. 17 meeting when the Board of Education approved a three-year district plan and the purchase of 25 IBM computers for the elementary school.

HRC Recycling will discontinue its service to Holyoke, effective Dec. 30. Until then, only newspaper and aluminum will be accepted. There is still a possibility of another recycler coming in.

Fifty Years Ago — Dec. 23, 1971

Larry Endres, Holyoke town clerk since Dec. 1, 1960, will retire Dec. 31. Mrs. Ray Swedlund will assume the duties of town clerk on Jan. 1, 1972.

The Denver FBI office reports that it is investigating “several leads” in the robbery of the First National Bank of Fleming last weekend. The thieves cut the bank’s alarm system and telephone lines and took an automatic camera from a wall. They used an acetylene torch taken from a local garage to cut holes through a heavy vault door, a magnesium safe and the front of 12 safe deposit boxes. The thieves took $18,000 in cash and other items of unestimated value.

Two Holyoke High School girls, Candy Leathers and Barbara Fisher, were among the winners in the 1971 Christmas contest sponsored by the Denver Post and the American National Bank of Denver. HHS was the only school other than George Washington High School that had two winners, both in the writing segment.

Seventy-Five Years Ago — Dec. 26, 1946

After a week’s vacation, students of the Holyoke high and grade schools will return to their studies Monday, Dec. 30. Classes will be held on Monday and Tuesday, and school will be dismissed for the New Year’s Day holiday. Classes will again be resumed Thursday and Friday.

The Navy is offering commissions to qualified ex-enlisted men who wish to return to active duty in the Volunteer Naval Reserve. The program, which will remain open indefinitely, is established to qualify men who, through lack of service or opportunity, were not eligible for advancement to commissioned rank during the war.