Peekin' into the Past

Five Years Ago
June 27, 2013
    Cobblestone Inn & Suites in Holyoke is officially open for business. The hotel welcomed its first official guests Saturday, June 15.
    The One Day at a Time support group met at Homesteaders Park for their first family fun day on June 22. The group is for families who have loved ones with special needs.
    Pictures in a Row, a film crew from Los Angeles, California, made a stop in Holyoke on June 24, as MV Equipment was one of six employers in Colorado to be chosen for promotional footage for WyoTech, a nationally known technical training school. Three MV Equipment employees and WyoTech grads were given time in front of the camera to explain how WyoTech prepared them for their jobs at MV Equipment.
    Ella Stewart, a 2011 HHS grad, is studying stem cells as part of an internship with Tissue Genesis Inc. in Honolulu, Hawaii, June 4-Aug. 7.
    
Ten Years Ago
June 26, 2008
    Implementation of a Holyoke Alternative School program for 2008-09 was given the nod on a 5-1 vote of the Re-1J Board of Education at its June 17 meeting.
    Zion Lutheran Church will be celebrating its 100th anniversary on June 29.
    After initially receiving the land between Amherst and Venango, Nebraska, in 2001 and holding the first summer camp in 2003, Camp Machasay is now offering a full season of summer camps.
    Community track committee members faced rejection when its request for a letter of support and a small monetary donation of around $5,000 was turned down on a 1-5 vote of the Re-1J Board of Education at its June 17 meeting.
    
Twenty-Five Years Ago
July 1, 1993
    Completing his last shift as a trooper with the Colorado State Patrol, Gene Hinck hung up his CSP hat for the last time on June 23. Retirement for the 24-year CSP trooper is official on July 1.
    Currently on sabbatical from his position at the University of Ulser in Belfast, Ireland, Michael Murray is hoping to gain helpful insight from his study on revitalization projects in Colorado communities. Holyoke is one of six communities which Murray has selected to study during his four-month stay in the state.
    Peggy Cox retired from her Meet & Eat volunteer duties on June 22 after 17 years of service. She was one of the original volunteers when the Meet & Eat program was started at the Lions Den in 1976.
    
Fifty Years Ago
June 27, 1968
    Holyoke firemen won first place in the wye hose race during the 51st annual convention and tournament of the Colorado State Firemen’s Association, held June 19-22 at Estes Park. The wye race win was the first six-man team first place for the Holyoke firemen in the state tourney in 24 years.
    Members of four 4-H saddle clubs in this area participated in a gymkhana event at the Phillips County Fairgrounds here Sunday. Members of the Holyoke 4-H Saddle Club hosted the event, which was the first gymkhana ever held in Holyoke.
    Record or near record high and low temperatures for the dates were set in Holyoke during the past week, with the mercury soaring to 102 last Thursday and again Saturday, then skidding to 41 degrees Tuesday night.
    The Colorado Game, Fish and Parks Department recently purchased land southwest of Holyoke. It includes part of the intermittent lagoons, and the plans at the time of purchase were to develop the area for waterfowl and pheasant habitat.
    
Seventy-Five Years Ago
July 1, 1943
    Jimmy (Kayo) Davis is through fighting the Germans and Italians, but he is still willing to take on all comers at 135-140 pounds. Jimmy arrived in Holyoke on Saturday to train in the Phillips County harvest fields for a comeback in the ring, for he says he was too busy in North Africa before he was wounded and captured to pay much attention to his left jab and his footwork. Davis is staying at the Central Hotel here, and although his name is a military secret, a girlfriend in this vicinity is responsible for his choosing this town for headquarters until he gets back on the fight trail.
    The largest crowd since 1938 gathered for the opening day of Holyoke’s municipal swimming pool Sunday, with 157 taking a first-day dip.
    Rev. B.H. Schrader, pastor of the Holyoke Christian Church for the past year and a half, closed his ministry here Sunday and plans to enlist in the services of his country.
    Rev. and Mrs. Everett D. Hudson and daughters left Monday for Caldwell, Idaho, where they have been called to fill the pastorate of the Nazarene church. The Rev. Hudson had served the Holyoke Nazarene church for over two years.
    With the prospect of over two and a half million bushels of wheat being produced in Phillips County this season, the possibilities of 1943 being the largest small grain year on record are favorable, barring hail. More than a million bushels of wheat will be produced in the immediate Holyoke vicinity alone, grain buyers here predict.