60 Years Ago – Funeral services were held for Mary Milich, a resident of Cottonwood Canyon. Mrs. Milich, about 72 years of age, lived with her husband, George, at their home in isolated Cottonwood Canyon (several miles above the present community of Walker Lake) where they had lived since they came to Hawthorne in 1912. They came to this country from Yugoslavia about 50 years prior to her death.]

10 YEARS AGO

(From the MCIN files of Dec. 21, 2006)

• On Dec. 15, 2006 Louie Dellamonica was the guest of honor at his retirement ceremonies as he was awarded with many awards honoring his long and dedicated service with the federal government. LTC Hardee Green presented Dellamonica with his retirement certificate for 65 years of Federal Civil Service. A personal letter written from President George Bush was also given to him.

• Rueben Palmer was selected as Director of the Year by the Nevada Association of School Boards.

• DeVona Scott was named the October 2006 recipient of the Classified Council’s Employee Appreciation Award.

• P & P held their Second Annual Cut-A-Thon in aid of the CAHS/Family Resource Center. Joining the girls from P & P was Amanda from the Lazy Daisy Accessories selling her wares. She also donated 10 percent of her sales. In total the Cut-A-Thon collected a total of $1007.

• VFW Post 2313 hosted their annual Christmas dinner, marking their families to the Patriot’s Pen and Voice of Democracy competitions. The 2006-2007 theme was “Citizenship in America”. Grant Oberhansli was presented with a certificate and check for his second place entry and Tanya Bunch was presented a certificate and check for her first place entry.

20 YEARS AGO

• Hawthorne’s “Pillar of Light” ceremonies were held at Lady Bird Park at the north end of town. Rocky McKellip was the master of ceremonies and was joined by Karen (Castellani) Purrell and Byron Castellani both of Yerington. Karen and Byron are the children of the original owners of the “Hawthorne Sign” that stood on the beacon of the Hawthorne Club for so many years before its demolition a few years ago.

• Hawthorne Elks Lodge “Students of the Month” of November were pictured in the paper. For the High School Ericka Selby and Rajen Desai. For the Elementary/Junior High School the winners were Raeven Rather and Ben Horn.

• Jason Gallegos, son of Robert and Linda Gallegos of Las Vegas, and grandson of Robert and Jessie Gallegos of Hawthorne, was presented several awards in Las Vegas. While playing in the National Basketball Championships, in which there were 58 teams competing, Gallegos received a certificate for winning the 1996 Amateur Athletic Union National Championships. Gallegos played on the Southern Nevada Bulldogs baseball team. Gallegos also received recognition of outstanding athletic achievement in football for the year 1996 at Eldorado High School in Las Vegas.

30 YEARS AGO

• Many nice cutthroat trout were being caught at Walker Lake and entered in the El Capitan Fishing Derby. Pictured in the paper were Fred Fisher of Ely, with his 7 pound 1 ounce catch; George Head of Hawthorne, 7 pound 6 ½ ounce and Joe Gonzalez of Hawthorne, 6 pounds. The refrigerated showcase at the El Capitan was filled with many nice trout that were caught at Walker Lake that week.

40 YEARS AGO

• Airman John Maxwell, stationed with the Air Force in Babbitt, was killed in a collision that seriously injured Herbert D. “Poke” Easley and his wife, Golda.

• Dawn Lucille Gates of Mina and James Farrell of Hawthorne were named “Teenagers of the Month” for November by the Hawthorne Elks No 1704.

50 YEARS AGO

• The Hawthorne unit of the Nevada Army National Guard celebrated its 14th birthday with a big dinner party held at the local guard armory.

• Seven Hawthorne Guardsmen left for Fort Ord, Calif. to begin their basic training. Those who left were Privates Ronald Blancey; Richard Bryant; Eugene Christensen; John Kipke; Wayne Edwards Paul Paulidis and Jerry Whaley.

• For the second time in less than a month, the mail truck carrying mail from Reno to Hawthorne and intermediate points was held up. The truck, which left Reno at 12:45 a.m. delivered several pouches of mail to Carson City and failed to arrive at Yerington for a scheduled stop at 3:10 a.m. The truck and driver, who was unharmed, were found shortly after noon in a canyon some distance east of Dayton.

• While talking about some of the things that happened during the recent election, a couple of guys were discussing the senator’s talk that was given in Hawthorne:

Hal: “Do you think the Senator put enough fire into his speech last night?”

Cal: “My opinion is he didn’t put enough of his speech into the fire!”

60 YEARS AGO

• The Baker-Hazard Mining Co. located about 37 miles southwest of Hawthorne near the East Walker River, made a 45 ton shipment of uranium ore to the Vitro Uranium Mill in Salt Lake City, Utah.

• New officers were chosen for the Babbitt Council. Elected were Roy Gartrell, president; Boyd J. Owen, vice president; Richard Harrington, secretary; and Arthur Creek, treasurer.

70 YEARS AGO

• The Mineral County High School Serpents opened the 1946 basketball season with a 40-32 win over the Muckers of Tonopah.

• Formal initiation of 40 new members of the Future Homemakers of America home economics club at Mineral County High School was held. Participating in the impressive candlelight ceremony were Clysta Vea Cordes, president; Alice Woodiel, vice president; Joan Richards, treasurer and Arlene Ambrose, secretary. They were assisted by Joanne Gerbig; Carolina Morton; Nesta Connelly; Mary Ann Hermansen; Joanna Perry; Joanne Jacobs; Donna Oppenlander; Pat DeWalt and Joyce Walker.

• Floyd Crabtree of Hawthorne was chosen to fill the office of State Department Commander of the American Legion following the death of Dale Pruett of Carson City who had only served two months of his term.

80 YEARS AGO

• A lone prisoner lodged in the Mina jail was believed to have set a fire that cost him his life. The man, identified as W. J. Thompson, a transient, had been arrested for trying to break into a safe at the Mina Hotel. When the fire was observed at 4:15 a.m. it had spread through the interior of the jail. When the firemen were able to enter the building they found the lone inmate on his bunk. A coroner’s jury determined that the man had died from suffocation.