The Bluffton news. [volume], August 28, 1947, Image 1

About The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current

Image provided by: Ohio History Connection, Columbus, OH

                
BLUFFTON
A Good Place to Live
VOLUME LXXII
SCHOOLS TO OPEN
FOR FALL TERM ON
TUESDAY MORNING
Second Grade Teacher is Re
employed by Board, Friday
Night
Few Changes In Staff of In
structors Teaching Assign
ments Made
Bluffton public schools will open
for the fall term with a full day of
class work, starting at 8:30 a. m.
next Tuesday morning, it was an
oounced this week by Supt. Ralph
S. Lanham.
Enrollment this fall is expected to
show little change from that of last
year, with a total registration of ap
proximately 480 according to
advance estimates.
School will open with a full corps
of teachers on the grade and high
school faculty. The last vacancy
was filled last Friday night at a
special meeting of the board of
education when Mrs. Dwight Spaythe
was hired as second grade teacher.
Mrs. Spaythe taught in the same
capacity last year, but resigned last
spring. Her husband is instructor
in high school industrial arts. Mrs.
Spaythe’s salary will be $2,060 per
year.
Martin Schmidt Hurt
In Fall Of 18 Feet
Martin Schmidt, lineman for the
municipal light plant, escaped ser
ious injured at 10 a. m. Tuesday
when he fell 18 feet to the ground
while working on a rural line near
the Edgar Montgomery farm, four
miles southeast of Bluffton in Orange
township.
In the fall, occasioned when a
pole on which he was working snap
ped off at the base, Schmidt sus
tained bruises about the head, el
bow and left leg.
Following treatment at a physi
cian’s office, he was taken to his
home on Cherry street. It is ex
pected that he will be off work ap
proximately a week.
After the fall, Schmidt was
brought to town by Forest Mumma
and Edgar Root, other members df
the line crew, who were with him
when the mishap occurred.
Stroke Fatal To
Boyd Clapper, 71
Private funeral rites will be held
Friday afternoon in the Paul Diller
funeral home for Boyd Clapper, 71,
who died at 7:30 a. m. Tuesday in
his home at 431 Cherry street.,
Clapper’s death followed three
weeks of illness since he suffered a
stroke on August 9.
A retired farmer and turkey rais
er, he was bom August 11, 1876, in
Gibsonburg. He was a member of
the Jerusalem Church of Christ in
Orange township.
Survivors include the widow,
Edith, to whom he was married
April 24, 1905 a daughter, Mrs.
Elizabeth Walker, San Antonio,
Texas two sons, Boyd Clapper, Jr.,
Ada and George Clapper, Bluffton
and a sister, Mrs. Daisy Owens,
Woodville, Ohio.
Burial will be in the Clymer cem
etery.
Garden Club Plans
Flower Show Sept. 10
The Bluffton Garden club will hold
a flower exhibit at the Methodist
church, Wednesday, Sept. 10 from 2
to 10 p. m.
The club invites anyone interested
in displaying specimen flowers, min
iatures or other bouquets to enter
exhibits Wednesday morning from
9 to 11 o’clock.
Three Weeks Heat
Wave Is Broken
Break in the heat wave which
gripped Bluffton for three weeks
was broken with cooler weather and
showers Monday afternoon and Tues
day. The cool weather continued
Tuesday night with drop in temper
ature to the upper sixties early Wed
nesday morning. Somewhat warmer
weather is forecast for Thursday.
Real Estate Deal
Dwight Spaythe, manual arts in
structor in the Bluffton schools has
purchased the Cliff Elliott residence
on West Kibler street. Possession
will be given the latter part of Sep
tember. Elliott and his family ex
pect to move to California.
The
New Mexico Mishap
Victims Coming Home
Mr. and Mrs. Orton Stratton, of
Bluffton, and Mrs. Daisy Pifer, of
Rawson, who were in the New Mex
ico automobile crash that took the
life of Mrs. Elvira Sutter Perry,
former local resident, were more
seriously injured in the mishap than
first reports indicated.
On Friday night of this week they
expect to leave the Tucumcari, New
Mexico, hospital, and traveling in a
Pullman compartment will arrive in
Lima at 2 a. m. Sunday In a let
ter received Monday by Raymond
Stratton, a son of the injured Bluff
ton couple, they asked that they be
met by an ambulance, and that res
ervations be made for them at the
Bluffton hospital.
Stratton, who sustained a painful
arm injury and chest injuries, has
been in a wheel chair at the hos
pital. His wife and Mrs. Pifer also
have been patients in the hospital.
MAN KILLED IS
THIRD BROTHER TO
DIE IN ACCIDENT
Francis J. Luginbuhl Meets In
stant Death Operating
Electric Welder
Second in Family to be Electro
cuted Funeral Wednesday
Afternoon
The third of his family taken by
accidental death in the last 13 years.
Francis J. Luginbuhl, 30, son of
Mrs. Mary Luginbuhl, of Bluffton,
was killed instantly at 9:15 a. m.
Monday while operating an electric
welder in an Ada farm service shop.
Eleven years ago, a brother Har
ley, was fatally injured when two
automobiles collided at Grove street
and College road in Bluffton.
Another brother, Quentin, was
electrocuted 13 years ago when he
was climbing a tree and came in
contact with a live wire.
In Monday morning’s mishap,
Luginbuhl’s death occurred when he
was working alone in the Mallow
Farm Service shop at Ada. His
body was found slumped over a
beet loader which he had been weld
ing, and it is supposed that in some
manner the electric current became
grounded.
A veteran of World War II, Lug
inbuhl served with the U. S. Armv
in the Asiatic-Pacific campaign. Dis
charged in December, 1945, he was
taking on-the-job training at the
time of his death.
He lived on Route 3, Ada, with his
wife, the former Susannah Lugibihl,
whom he married Jan. 8, 1946, and
a five-months-old son, Frank Wilson
Luginbuhl.
Other survivors include his mother,
Mrs. Mary Luginbuhl, Bluffton Route
2 a brother, Maynard, and a sister,
Alberta.
The welding mishap victim was a
member of Ebenezer Mennonit0
church where funeral services were
held Wednesday afternoon. Rev.
Howard Landes, pastor, officiated at
the rites. Burial was in the church
cemetery.
Last Rites Held For
Former Teacher Here
Funeral services were held Tues
day afternoon in the Basinger fun
eral home for Mrs. Lavina Hilty
Marr, 82, former Bluffton teacher,
who died last Saturday at her resi
dence in Chicago.
Mrs. Marr’s death followed a six
months’ illness from complications
arising from a fractured right arm
and shoulder.
After graduating from Bluffton
High school in the class of 1883,
Mrs. Marr taught school in Bluffton
and vicinity for five years. In 1889,
she was married to William Marr
and moved to Chicago.
She was an active civic worker,
■’prved on committees of the World’s
Columbian exposition, and worked
for the women’s suffrage cause be
fore the Illinois state legislature and
before the United States Congress.
She was an organizer of the Luth
eran Women’s league, and had great
interest in art, music and literature.
Survivors include two sisters, Mrs.
Albert Baumgartner, Bluffton, and
Miss Kathryn Hilty, Chicago, and a
brother, Fred Hilty, Chicago.
MARRIAGE LICENSE
A marriage license has been is
sued to Charles D. Hartman, 29, of
Williamstown and Ruth Johnson, 24,
of Bluffton.
Transportation In Bluffton School
Buses Will Be For Rural Pupils Only
Pupils Living Inside Corpora
tion Cannot Be Transported
To and From Schoo!
Only Exception To Rule Will Be
For Physically Handicapped
Children
School buses transporting pupils
to and from school in the morning
and evening will be for rural resi
dents only and will haul no pupils
living inside the Bluffton corporation
limits it was decided by the board of
education at a special meeting last
Friday night.
Declaration of the new policy was
announced after a number of re
quests had been received from resi
dents in outlying districts within the
corporation, seeking transportation
to and from school for their child
ren.
The only exception to the policy
the board ruled, will be in cases of
physically handicapped children.
Buses Are Full
In announcing the ruling on pupil
transportation, spokesmen for the
board said the four busines now op
erated by the schools are filled to
capacity with pupils living in rural
districts.
To include children residing with
in the corporation limits, it would be
necessary for buses to make addi
tional trips thereby increasing the
cost of ^us operation.
Board members pointed out that
bus transportation originally was in
tended only for the transportation
of rural pupils who have longer dis
tances to go, and if the practice of
hauling pupils within the corpora
tion is started, transportation should
be available to all town residnts.
In the past, a few pupils in out
lying areas near corporation limits
have been transported to and from
school ,but in the future such serv
ice will be discontinued.
A number of requests for pupil
transportation inside the corpora
tion have been received this year
from the South Main, West Elm and
East Jefferson street districts.
Organ Here For
Reformed Church
A large pipe organ purchased by
St. John’s Reformed church arrived
here Wednesday morning and prep
arations are under way for its in
stallation which is expected to be
completed within the next two
weeks.
The instrument is manufactured
by the Kilgen Organ Co., of St.
Louis, Wm. Miller, a representative
of the company will supervise its in
stallation.
Regular services will be resumed
next Sunday at the church which
has been closed for the past two
months for interior remodeling.
Lydia Ewing Dies
In Hospital Monday
Mrs. Lydia Eleanor Ewing, 70,
252 South Lawn avenue, died at
9:35 p. m. Monday in Bluffton Com
munity hospital, where she had been
a patient since suffering a stroke
last February.
A lifelong resident of the Bluff
ton community, she was brought
here by her parents, West and Jose
phine McClain, shortly after she
was born in Upper Sandusky.
Survivors include a daughter, Mrs.
Gail Schaeublin, Columbus, and a
sister, Mrs. Will Althauser, Upper
Sandusky. Mrs. Ewing had two
grandchildren and one great-grand
child.
bne was a member of the Bluffton
Church of Christ.
Services will be held at the Stan
ley Basinger funeral home Thurs
day aiternoon at 2 o’clock with Rev.
E. J. Penhorwood of the Lima South
Side Church of Christ officiating.
Burial will be in Maple Grove ceme
tery.
Moving From Dlu£ton
Mr. and Mrs. Don Wenger and
family have moved to Mission, Tex
as, in the Rio Grande valley citrus
belt where a number of Bluffton
eople have located during the past
year.
Wenger will teach in the high
school there and also serve as as
sistant to his brother-in-law James
Miller, high school athletic coach.
John Martin, who resigned his po
sition as music instructor in the
schools here moved Tufesday with
his family to Point Pleasant, West
Virginia, where he has accepted a
rmaFHnn as public school music in
structor.
A NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF BLUFFTON AND VICINITY
MISHAP DISRUPTS
CENTRAL OHIO'S
ELECTRIC SERVICE
Generating Capacity Cut Off
When Spade Cuts Into
7500-Volt Cable
Bluffton Man Digging Trench
Escapes Electrocution In
Freak Mishap S
Electrical service provided by the
Rluffton generating plant of the
Central Ohio Light and Power comp
any was disrupted for nearly two
hours Monday afternoocin a freak
accident which knoct'M out the
plant’s largest unit and*a Bluffton
workman, Roy Hofer, Jr., 20, almost
miraculously escaped electrocution on
the plant grounds.
Hofer was digging a trench near
the generating plant when his spad*
struck an underground cable carry
ing 7,500 volts from 'the power
house to the plant’s yard-station.
He escaped with singed hair and
eyebrows, but damage to the cable
cut out the plant’s largest generat
ing turbine, and the two smaller
generators were unable to carrjF the
load.
Findlay station of the company
went on the line immediately, but
was unable to provide a full load,
and for an hour and three-quarters
part of the south circuit in the
Wapakoneta-Minster-Coldwater area
was without electrical service.
Repair Damaged Cable
Bluffton’s generating plant went
back on the line Monday afternoon
after temporary repairs had been
made to the cable. After midnight
Monday, the plant’s large irbine
again was shut down while repairs
were completed.
Hofer was taken to a local physi
cian, but was found to have e^aped
injury. Plant attaches said that if
his foot had been in contact with
the metal part of the spade when it
struck the cable he would have met
instant death.
Hofer is employed at the plait by
the Maxon Construction Co., which
has the contract for work on im ex
pansion program under way e for
the last year.
There was no uamage to v H\arge
turbine when the cable was shorted
in the mishap, because of an auto
matic cutout which immediately shut
down power generation.
Youth Injured In
Cycle-Auto Crash
Tom Burkholder, 19, of Pandora,
was slightly injured at 2:30 p. m.
Tuesday when the motorcycle he was
riding figured in a crash with an
automobile driven by John Raymond
Shromquist, of Lima, at the West
Elm-North Spring street intersection
here.
Burkholder was traveling west on
Elm street, and Shromquist’s car
was northbound on Spring street.
The motorcycle was badly damaged
in the crash.
Bluffton Exhibitor
Wins In “Glad” Show
Kermit Herr, of Bluffton, who
grows gladioli as an avocation, won
awards at the Northwestern Ohio
Gladioli show held at Toledo, Satur
day, where gladioli growers thruout
this section exhibited the top pro
ducts of their flower gardens.
Of twelve entries the Bluffton man
won seven first awards, two seconds,
three thirds and a sectional cham
pionship.
Stores Will Close
Here On Labor Day
Labor Dry will be observed in
Bluffton next Monday with business
places and industries generally
vic for the weekend holiday.
There will be no mail deliveries
and w.ndows at the post office will
be osed from Saturday at 1 p. m.,
until Tuesday morning.
Births
The following births at Bluffton
hospital:
Mr. and Mrs. Paul Grieser, Jenera,
a boy, Eric Lynn, Saturday.
Mr. and Mrs. Marion Burkholder,
Bluffton, a boy, Sunday.
Mr. and Mrs. James Landis, Bluff
ton, a boy, James Lynn, Monday.
Mr. and Mrs. Paul Martinka,
Findlay, a boy, Wednesday morning.
Mrs. Martinka is the former Kath
erine Mull who was previously em
ployed here.
BLUFFTON NEWS
BLUFFTON, OHIO, THURSDAY, AUG. 28, 1947
4
Thirty hours after he boarded a
huge trans-Atlantic plane in Brus
sels, Belgium, Dr. L. L. Ramseyer,
president of Bluffton college, was
walking the streets of Bluffton, at
the conclusion of an air hop which
again emphasizes the relative un
importance of distance in this mod
ern age.
Arriving here at 10 a. m. Tuesday,
Dr. Ramseyer had been in the air
only about 24 hours. On the trans
Atlantic flight, he made brief stops
at Newfoundland, New York City,
Cleveland and Toledo, then came the
rest of the way home by auto.
The Bluffton college president had
been in Europe this summer with a
college group studying post-war con
ditions in nations on that continent.
After arriving here at 10 a. m.
Tuesday, he left at noon for Berne,
Ind., to attend the Mennonite Gen
eral conference in session at that
place.
Rev. J. N. Smucker to Continue
Head of Group For Three
Year Term
Two Other Bluffton Men Elect
ed to Office at Meeting in
Berne, Ind.
Rev. J. N. Smucker of Bluffton
was re-elected president of the Gen
eral Conference of Mennonites which
closed its 31st triennial meeting at
Berne, Ind., Wednesday. Rev. Smuck
er is pastor of the First Mennonite
church here.
The General Conference is the
largest group of the Mennonite de
nomination comprising a number of
district conferences and meets once
every three years, serving as a clear
ing house and forum for discussion
of problems and projects common to
the various churches and branches
of the faith.
Two other Bluffton men elected to
office were Rev. Andrew Shelly and
Rev. Harry Yoder, members of the
church unity committee. All officers
will serve for a three year period.
Forty-two churches have been add
ed to the membership of the General
conference since the last meeting,
officials announced.
Total membership of the confer
ence as of January 1, 1947, was
given as 43,504 communicant mem
bers with a constituency of 70,579
whic^j latter number includes child
ren and affiliating worshippers.
A. C. & Y. Motor
Car Rams Into Auto
A Carey man was injured at 4
p. m. last Thursday when an A. C.
& Y. motor-powered section car
crashed into an automobile driven by
Ted Stettler, of Bluffton, at the Col
lege road crossing, one mile north
of Bluffton.
In the mishap, John Nye, 50, of
Carey, suffered a dislocated left
shoulder and cuts and bruises.
He was taken to the Bluffton hos
pital for treatment, then to his home
in Carey by the Stanley E. Basinger
ambulance.
Other members of a track repair
crew riding on the railroad car
leaped to safety before the crash.
Nye, the driver, remained on the
car. The crew members are living
in cars near the A. C. & Y. station
while repairing tracks in this vicin
ity.
Stettler, driver of the auto, escap
ed injury. His car sustained minor
damage.
Man Injured When
Team Runs Away
Robert Staley, farmer living on
the Sandusky ro^d south of Bluffton
is convalescing from severe bruises
and other injuries received in a run
away accident when a team of
horses which he was driving became
frightened by a herd of hogs.
Will Teach Musi"
In Bethel College
James Bixel, formerly of Bluffton
has accepted a position as instructor
in piano and theory of music at
Bethel college, Newton, Kansas. He
and his wife who have been visiting
at the home of his parents, Mr. and
Mrs. Samuel Bixel of South Main
street left last week for Kansas. En
route they will ston at Kalamazoo,
Michigan, to visit her parents.
Dr. Ramseyer Flier From Belgium
To Bluffton In 30 Hours This Week
Bluffton Minister Re-elected President
Of General Conference Of Mennonites
Bluffton High Grid
Workouts Started
Grid candidates for this year’s
Bluffton High school team have been
working out twice daily at Harmon
field under the direction of Coach
Kent Cotterman, since practice was
started Wednesday of last week.
With Bluffton’s first appearance
slated for the town’s football pre
vue here Friday night of next week,
the Pirate mentor has only two
weeks of practice sessions to get his
team into shape for its 16-minute
prevue assignment against Forest.
Coach Cotterman has been work
ing with a squad of 33 candidates
in the twice-daily sessions. Present
indications are that this year’s Bluff
ton team will have a heavier line
than that of last season, but that
backfield candidates will be consid
erably smaller.
UY HARRY L. HAtB
Editor’s Note—This is one
of a series of articles to appear
in the Bluffton News dealing
with early Ohio history. Others
will appear in forthcoming
issues.
Miss Fay’s Little
Paupers
Faded into obscurity through the
lapse of time the name Catherine
Fay Ewing ought to stand blazoned
in every one of Ohio’s 88 counties.
It was she who 90 years ago opened
at her own expense the little two
room bethel which grew into the
state’s great system of County
Children’s Homes.
Miss Fay always had liked child
ren, though she never had one of
her own. A farmer’s daughter, born
in Westboro, Mass., in 1822, she
moved with her parents to Washing
ton County, Ohio, 11 years later,
where she taught school in an
Indian mission. Her salary was $100
a year and her “found.” She stuck
to the job 10 years, saved up $200,
then quit.
Once at the mission she had seen
a child killed accidentally during a
drunken brawl by several Indians.
Later on a visit to the Washington
County Poor House, Marietta, she
found a number of small children
living in the squalor and degradation
of that institution. It was not the
sort of place where children should
receive their first impressions of
life. So Catherine Fay decided to
found a home for them.
Gets Little Aid
The best deal she could get out of
the directors of the infirmary was
their agreement to supply a new
suit or dress to each child when she
took them pay one-half the cost of
medical attendance and all the burial
expense if a child died and pay $1
a week for the food, shelter, care
and entire subsequent support of
each of the children. It was little
enough.
To her $200 savings Miss Fay
added the $160 legacy she had
received from her parents, borrowed
another $100 from a trusting friend
and launched the first of Ohio’s
Children’s Homes. She bought a
ramshackle two-room house on
twelve acres along a mud road on
Moss Run, 10 miles east of Mariet
ta and on April 1, 1858, moved in
with the nine children the Poor
House had given her. Eight of them
were boys and all were under the
age of ten. Four of the children
were babies.
In just a month, May 1, the dis
trict school would onpn—and five of
Catherine Fay’s little paupers were
of school age.
The writer does not term those
little waifs pauners in derision but
in tenderness—and to the shame of
the shades of some 16 Washington
Countv snobs whom He who said—
“the least of these” must have fore
warned St. PiYer to throw back
down the hill should thev ever have
the temerity to peep in at the Pearly
Gates.
Waifs Barred Fro”i School
It was the 16 men who waited for
Catherine Fav at the schoolhouse
door when she arrived with her five
Ibtle proteges on the first dav of
school and told her “You e«n’t •’ke
those little nanners into the school
among our children”.
When Miss Fay appealed to the
Coneinued on page 8)
BLUFFTON
A Good Place to Trade
____________y NUMBER 19
FIND UNCONSCIOUS
BLUFFTON WOMAN
IN AUTO WRECKAGE
Kathleen Niswander, Accident
Victim Is in Findlay
Hospital
(ar Strikes Bridge Abutment
on Putnam-Hancock County
Line
Kathleen Niswander, 24, daughter
of Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Niswander
residing north of Bluffton on the
county line road is a patient in.
Findlay hospital with injuries as the
result of an accident when the car
which she was driving struck a con
crete bridge abutment on the
Putnam-Hancock county line road
about six miles north of her home
late Thursday night.
She was found unconscious in the
wreckage by nearby farm residents
awakened by the crash. Taken to
the hospital in a Findlay ambulance
summoned by the state patrol her
injuries were found to consist of a
broken jaw and fractured left knee
cap. She still is confined to the
hospital.
Returning alone from a visit to
Defiance, Miss Niswander apparently
lost control of the car as it ap
proached a bridge on the Putnam
Hancock county line, seven miles
north of the Dixie highway inter
section.
The car southbound, struck the
abutment on the left side of a con
crete bridge over the Hancock
County Brick and Tile ditch, and
toppled the heavy concrete railing
into the stream. Wrecked in the
crash, the car stopped crosswise in
the road.
Farmer Hears Crash
R. A. Wherly living about 40 rods
south of the bridge, heard the crash,
and found Miss Niswander uncon
scious in the wreckage. He sum
moned Robert Cook, a neighbor
living north of the bridge.
Telephone lines to Bluffton, Pan
dora and Ottawa were out of com
mission because of a heavy storm
last Thursday, but Wherly was able
to get thru to the state highway
patrol at Findlay on the only avail
able connection while Cook drove to
Pandora to summon Dr. Milo Rice.
They recognized the license as one
from Allen county, and Mrs. Wherly
and Mrs. Cook drove to Bluffton in
an attempt to identify the car. No
papers could be found to establish
identity of the driver.
Meanwhile the state patrol sum
moned a Findlay ambulance and she
was removed to the Findlay hospital.
The automobile, a Ford sedan
owned by Miss Niswander’s brother,
Lyle Niswander, wrecked in the
crash, is at the Bixel Motor Sales
garage on Cherry street.
Called To Arkansas
By Death Of Brother
Dick Troy of Thurman street was
calk'd to Batesville, Arkansas, early
Friday morning by the death of his
brother Neil, 42, of that place. He
was accompanied by another brother
W. M. Troy of Lima Rt. 6. They
returned Tuesday afternoon.
Cathedral Windows
At Church Of Christ
New stained glass cathedral win
dows will be installed in the Church
of Christ next fall in an improve
ment project directed by a commit
tee of which Mrs. Helen Wells is
chairman.
Eight windows in the church will
be replaced in the program, sched
uled to start in October. In financ
ing the project, assistance from
former members and friends of the
church will be welcomed, it was
pointed out.
In addition to Mrs. Wells, other
committee members include Mrs.
Arthur Amstutz, Mrs. Swan Stone
hill and Mrs. Ralph Patterson.
Library Hours
Beginning September 1:
8 a. m. to o p. m. daily except
Wednesday and Saturday.
Wednesday hours—8:00 a. m. to
3:00 p. m.
Saturday hours—12 noon to 5:00
p. m.
Evening hours—Monday, Wednes
day, Saturday 6:30 p. m. to 8 p.m.
DR. BIXEL HOME
Dr. M. R. Bixel, Rluffton physician
who has been a patient in the hospi
tal here since June ill with a heart
ailment has been removed to his
home on Cherry street. His condition^
is reported improved.