Vol. 1, No. 48
Palmer, Alaska, March 13, 1948
Ten Cents
Elks Announce
Final Plans
For Initiation
Final plans for the Saturday
meeting and initiation of the
Elks’ lodge, to be held in the
Palmer Community Hall com
mencing at 8 o’clock, were out
lined last Wednesday in a tele
phone conversation between L. C.
Stock, chairman of Palmer’s
planning committee, and Louis
Odsather, Exalted Ruler of the
Anchorage lodge.
'• Initiation of Palmer’s class of
14 candidates is expected to be
gin at about 4 o’clock Saturday
afternoon. The Anchorage sec
ond section committee will leave
that city at 2:30 in private cars
in order to be in Palmer in time.
The remaining members of the
Elks’ lodge, some 200 strong,
will arrive in Palmer by special
train which is scheduled to pull
into the local depot at 7:30.
Members of a Palmer wel
coming group plan to board
the train at Matanuska to ex
tend the Valley's greetings to
its guests. All other Elks and
their ladies will be in wailing
at the Palmer station when the
special train arrives.
For the next two hours, the
ents of the evening are closed
to all but members of the lodge
and the Palmer initiates. A lodge
meeting and final initiation cere
monies are expected to take
place in Palmer’s Community
Hall between 8 and 10:30 that
evening.
At 10:30 the doors will be
thrown open. At that time, the
Elks annual St. Patrick’s Day
ball will begin in Community
H811. Everyone in the Valley is
invited to join with the Elks for
the ball. Hats and favors will be
distributed to all who come.
Music for the ball will be sup
plied by an orchestra brought
to the Valley by the Anchorage
lodge.
The dance is scheduled to
break up at 2 o’clock Sunday
morning, and the special train
will return to Anchorage a half
hour later.
When members of fhe An
chorage lodge depart, they
will leave behind them 14 new
Palmer Elks, who, together
with former Elk lodge mem
bers now living in the Valley,
will make up the membership
of a local Bill's club. Names
of the 14 include:
Rudolph Yurbich, Jack Tost,
Charles Hodson, Roy Brock,
Robert Burns, Arthur Stenberg,
Daryl Meeks, Fred Cottrill, El
vin Smiley, Carl Snelling, Lars
Peterson, Erwin Doyle, Elmer
ftlngstad and Matthew Perkins.
Granger Services Friday
Funeral services for Wilbur
Granger will be held at 1:30 Fri
day afternoon, it was announced
today by Jack Maze, commander
of the local American Legion
post. The graveside services will
be under the auspices of the
Legion. I
--
Program
Anchorage Lodge BPOE 1351
Meeting and Initiation
Palmer, Alaska March 13, 1948
4:00 p.m.
Public initiation of candidates by second section
committee.
7:30 p.m.
Arrival of special train. Welcome of Anchorage of
ficers and delegation at Palmer depot.
Ladies will be escorted to reception room in Kos
losky Bldg.
8:00 p.m.
Lodge convenes in Community Hall for meeting
and initiation.
10:00 p.m.
Elks and their ladies to be entertained at a buffet
luncheon in the dining room of Palmer school.
10:30 p.m.
St. Patrick’s Day dance begins in Community Hall.
2:00 a.m.
End of St. Patrick’s Day dance.
2:30 a.m.
Special train departs for Anchorage.
Dairymen Try
Another Plan
Members of the Dairyman’s
Association are continuing to
search for some workable plan
of operation, which will be ac
ceptable to both Association
members and to the general
membership of the Matanuska
Valley Farmers’ Co-operating As
sociation as a whole, a spokes
man announced this week.
Last week’s offer carried to
the MVFCA board of directors
for consideration by a special
committee made up of Harold
Thuma, Victor Falk and Frank
McAllister, was refused. That
plan proposed that the Dairy
man’s Association be allowed to
lease the creamery and the dairy
for independent operation by the
milk producers.
This week a second committee
composed of Ernest Harrington,
Jack Cope and Henry Bowers '
met with the MVFCA board with 1
an alternate plan. That plan, now
being studied by the board, out
lines a proposal by which the
dairymen would lease only the 1
exterior loading platform, the
milk pump and the dairy truck
in the Valley, together with the
dairy facilities in Anchorage, for
independent marketing of As
sociation milk.
The dairymen’s committee and
the board of directors will meet
again this week to attempt to
work out figures by which they
can arrive at fair terms for such
a lease. Once a definite plan is
outlined, a general membership
meeting of the MVFCA must be
called to approve it.
If this alternate plan cannot
be worked out, some, although
not all, of the members of the
Dairyman’s Association feel that
their only recourse is resignation
(Continued on Back Page)
Restaurant Owner Sued
By Former Employe
Martin Doshen brought suit in
commissioner’s court in Anchor
age this week against Charles
Matich, owner of a local restau
rant, for $400 salary Doshen
claims he earned for janitorial
service at the restaurant.
Mr. Doshen contends that he
earned $450 for janitorial serv
ice, but was paid only $50. He
asks the $400 he charges is still
due, plus interest and attorney’s
fees.
The case, which came up for
hearing last Wednesday, has
been continued at the request of
the defense attorney, William
Renfrew, who asked for a bill of
particulars.
P-TA Head Announces
Next Meeting Plans
Home and Family Life is the
program topic for the March
meeting of the Parent-Teacher’s
Association, it was announced to
day by Mrs. Charles Schaefer,
president. That meeting is sched
uled to be held on Tuesday,
March 16, at 8 o’clock in the
lunchroom of Palmer school.
A moving picture, “The Salt
of the Earth,” is included on the
program. The refreshment com
mittee asks those attending to
“bring a cherry pie, please—or
anyway, some kind of pie.”
All interested Valley residents
are invited to attend.
Henke Moves Office
Lou Henke, insurance sales
man and accountant, has moved
his office from shared quarters
with the Valley Frontiersman to
larger office space in the Neal
Wright building. Mr. Henke is
now located upstairs in that
building, directly across the hall
from the Matanuska Electric As
sociation office.
Local Entry Wins
Second in Meet
For Model Planes
Harvey Cooper, a member of
the recently organized Model
Plane club here, took second
prize in the senior class at the
recent Fur Rendezvous model
plane meet at Fort Richardson.
Harvey’s plane, one of four
Valley planes to be entered in
the contest, was second to that
of Jack Hoffman in the senior
class. His prize was a $14 air
plane kit, which will be awarded
him at the next meeting of the
j Model Plane club.
Harvey’s plane is a Navion,
constructed in perfect detail on
a one-inch to one foot scale.
Other Valley entrants all came
to grief in the Post contest. Bob
! Call’s ship cracked up, Ed Gay
! lord couldn’t get his entry off
i the ground, and Bob Lucus
failed to get the motors started
on his model ship.
Top winner in the other class
competing at the Fur Rendez
vous meet was Dick Rothermal
of Anchorage. Dick’s entries took
both first and second prizes in
that class. His plane set a speed
record of 122 miles an hour.
Future plans for the Palmer
Model Plane club, which meets
in a building on the fair grounds,
call for entry in a second An
chorage meet, planned for June.
This meet will be a part of the
Anchorage A i r Rendezvous,
scheduled for June 21.
Bob Lucus, head of the local
club, also plans to have a meet
at the Valley fair this year, if
details can be worked out.
Red Cross Drive
Opens Officially ,
Early Next Week
The Red Cross drive in the
Valley, delayed somewhat be
cause materials did not reach
the Girl Scout drive workers un
til late this week, will begin
full force next Monday, accord
ing to Mrs. Harry Ryan, chair
man.
Mrs. Ryan has divided the Val
ley into districts, with a senior
Girl Scout chairman appointed
to be responsible for collections
in each district. The senior
Scout will have a number of as
sistants, who have been appoint
ed from the ranks of the inter
mediate Scout troop headed by
Miss Mietzi Bleck.
Local Folks Are
Called To Jury
An even dozen of the Valley’s c
residents have been called tot
jury duty in Anchorage, com
mencing March 22, it was an-1
nounced this week by Marshall c
Bill Bouwens. These jurors mustv
report at the district court ink
Anchorage at 10 a.m. on March v
22:
Mrs. Ethel Ueeck, Lenore
Welles of Wasilla, Mrs. Esther
Thompson, Harold Stephan, Rose
and Ernest Peck of Wasilla, Mrs. 1
| Archie Moffitt, Mrs. Ethel Ly
i ons, Mrs. Dorothy Cook, Roy
Brock, Grace Black and Cloyce
I Parks of Chugiak.
Monday Rally
To Inaugurate
Bond Drive
At Monday’s hospital bond
rally, when $50,000 worth of
building and improvement bonds
will be offered for sale for the
first time, hospital board mem
bers Jack Maze, Clyde King and
C. W. Peters will outline de
tailed plans for the construction
of the new Valley hospital.
In addition a 45-minute varie
ties program, featuring talent
from Fort Richardson and Anch
orage, the Palmer high school
glee club and band, and an ad
dress by George Sundborg, exec
utive assistant to Governor Ern
est Gruening, will round out the
evening’s entertainment.
That meeting will begin
promptly at 8 o’clock in the Pal
mer gymnasium. Every Valley
resident is urged to be present
at that hour to hear plans which
vitally concern every individual
residing in the Valley or in the
Anchorage area.
Members of the Valley’s
Homemakers’ clubs plan to serve
a light lunch at the conclusion
of the formal entertainment. La
dies are asked to bring a cake,
and everyone is requested to
bring his own cup.
Letters have been written to
heads of Anchorage business
firms, requesting their presence
at the bond rally. The meeting
also has been publicized through
both local and Anchorage news
papers and over the Anchorage
radio station.
This rally has been planned
as the kick-off date for an inten
sive bond sales campaign in the
Valley. Board members feel that
a substantial bank account is im
perative before any construction
can be planned or undertaken
for the permanent hospital.
That permanent and extended
quarters are immediately neces
sary was proved last week when
nine babies were lodged in the
four-bed nursery, and 19 pa
tients were crammed into the 12
patient hospital.
Bonds have been issued in
(Continued on back page)
Former Resident
Dies In Anchorage
Word reached the Valley this
week of the death of Vinson
Stephan, a former Valley resi
dent in business in Kenai. Mr.
Stephan had been ill, but last
week was released from An
horage’s Providence hospital to
eturn to Kenai.
He re-entered the hospital last
'hursday and succumbed there
n Tuesday morning of this
/eek. He is survived by his
rother Harold of the Valley, a
/ife, two sons and a daughter,
hrce other brothers and a sister.
He was 47 years old at the time
}f his death.
Mr. Stephan will be remem
bered as a former employe of the
Vlatanuska Valley Farmers’ Co
operating Association. More re
cently he had been owner of
Kenai’s general store.
Welcome To Our Valley, Mr. and Mrs. Elk