WINDSOR, N.S. — Here's a look at what was making the news 25 and 50 years ago in the Hants Journal.
25 years ago (June 1, 8, 15 and 22, 1994 editions)
• Sally Grimm, 20, of Berwick, was crowned Queen Annapolisa. Hantsport’s Theresa McGinn was chosen second lady-in-waiting.
• Tourism numbers in Windsor had dropped dramatically. An annual report compiled by the Evangeline Trail Tourism Association noted that visits to the Windsor tourist bureau in 1993 were down by 20 per cent.
The Windsor Tourist Bureau was preparing to open June 13 after a major refurbishment – the first in the past 10 years. The Windsor Jaycees spent about $10,000 on the repairs.
• Police were investigating a murder/suicide in Lantz that occurred while two of the couple’s three children played outside. The community was surprised by the morning shooting.
• A lone thief brandishing a knife made off with $920 after holding up the owner of Shirley’s Pizza in Brooklyn as the owner was just opening the business.
• The murder trial for Laura Lilian Dagenhardt, of South Rawdon and Windsor, was slowly making its way through the court system. She was due to stand trial in the fall of 1994 for murdering her husband the year before. The co-accused in the murder case was her boyfriend.
• The Town of Windsor adopted a heritage property bylaw to protect its buildings, streetscapes and areas of historic or cultural significance in town.
• Tenders were called for the continuation of twinning Highway 101 between Mount Uniacke and Sackville, with the hope of being able to expand the work to Windsor.
• Two Nova Scotia Environmental Awards were presented to people in the West Hants area in May.
Jeff Dunfield, of Jeff’s Irving in Falmouth, received a certificate of merit for his work in creating the Falmouth Mini-Park, while West Hants Warden Gary Cochrane accepted the award on behalf of the municipality’s recycling program, which was launched May 1, 1993.
The mini-park was completed in 1993 by the Windsor and area Jaycees, the Municipality of West Hants, and Dunfield. The objective was to create an attractive picnic park along Lake Pisiquid. It was Dunfield’s idea.
• West Hants photographer John Webb won a number of trophies during a 1994 Photography Guild of Nova Scotia competition. He took first place in four categories: photographer of the year, the Bluenose Trophy for highest points in pictorial, the Cyril F. Smith Award for highest cumulative points (nature) and a special award for national photographic art. He also took home four second place awards.
It was noted that Webb works out of a studio in his home in Ardoise.
• Windsor native Alex Vaughan and his partner Audrey Alexander were set to travel to Ottawa to help celebrate Canada Day. The duo were popular children's performers who had just released their second album, entitled Soup Song.
• Nova Scotia Light and Power donated poles, equipment and netting to help erect a 50-foot high net alongside the Elmcroft Playground in Windsor to help reduce stray balls from landing in the yards of neighbouring properties.
• The Longest Day of Golf fundraising challenge was to be held June 20, with the goal of raising $60,000 for the Canadian Cancer Society.
• Thirteen-year-old Laura Hughes, of Windsor, was proving herself on the court. The athlete captured both the 14 and under girls division and the under 16 division at the Waegwoltic Club Tennis Tournament.
50 years ago (May 28, June 4, 11 and 18, 1969 editions)
• Fire destroyed the historic lighthouse in Noel. The cause of the fire was unknown, but the 81-year-old structure couldn’t be salvaged.
• Cliff Robertson, the 1968 Academy Award winner for best actor, was coming to Windsor to help open the Kings Meadows residence for adults with special needs in Windsor. Robertson was in the province for the Nova Scotia premiere of his motion picture, Charly, on June 23.
• Rosalind Ledson was selected as Princess Windsor while Gayle Anderson was selected to represent Hantsport at the 37th Apple Blossom Festival.
Following the selection of Queen Annapolisa, Helen Fougere, of Aylesford, the royal party met another apple blossom queen. Cindy Knouse, an Apple Blossom Queen hailing from Adams County, Pennsylvania, made the trip to Nova Scotia as part of a contingent representing the Fruit Growers Association of Adams County and Biglerville.
• The Windsor Fire Department quickly averted serious disaster, extinguishing a fire in the storeroom of a residence occupied by W. Robinson.
• It was a tragic month on the roads for Hants County motorists. Nova Scotia Light and Power Company employee Ernest Clifford Bezanson, of Three Mile Plains, died after the vehicle he was driving collided with another truck in Aylesford. In another crash, two Ellershouse men – Wayne James Hunter and Garfield LeRoy Manley, who were in their 20s, died and one was taken to the hospital with injuries.
• The Windsor Jaycees announced the club would take over operating the Windsor Tourist Bureau after the Windsor Board of Trade stepped aside. The bureau was to be staffed by Helen Sherman and assisted by Helen Roby. In 1968, Sherman greeted about 11,000 visitors.
• Roy L. Bishop, the son of Hantsport’s mayor, received the degree of doctor of philosophy from the University of Manitoba. The Horton High School graduate also had a Bachelor of Science from Acadia and a masters from McMaster University. Bishop’s field of research was experimental nuclear physics and he was planning to return to Acadia University as a staff member.
• Thomas Pothier, of Falmouth, won a 14-day vacation to the Caribbean for himself and his wife due to meeting his sales quota for Dodge products. Arnold Smith, of Windsor, and his wife were also lucky, winning a seven-day vacation to Hawaii after Smith exceeded his quota of sales for Ford products.
• A short arts feature on Johnny Gold, from Falmouth, appeared in the Journal. Gold, who was well-known for performing country music at local venues and festivals, had moved to Halifax to focus on writing enough songs to cut an album.
• L.C. Baird opened a new golf course in Cambridge, a few miles from the Whale Creek Camping Site.
• Grace Wallace, supervising principal at Windsor Elementary School, was celebrated by colleagues at her retirement party.
• Grade 6 student Sherri Sheehy, of Three Mile Plains, won first place for her scrapbook on Nova Scotia history. More than 60 books were entered into the contest.
• Walk-a-thons were a popular way of fundraising in 1969. A 12-mile walk-a-thon in May, sponsored by the Hants Camp Association, brought in about $1,300. A 30-mile walk-a-thon was held in Milford, bringing in $4,000. Of the 400 people who started that walk, about 100 finished. The Payzant Memorial Hospital Ladies Auxiliary also hosted a 12-mile walk-a-thon on June 7, bringing in about $12,000 in funds for the new hospital.
• Fred Spearing, of Cambridge, Hants County, unearthed a rare find. He discovered an ancient hoe that had been handmade by a blacksmith. He thought it may have belonged to his great-great-grandfather who settled the land after coming from Ireland in 1805.
• Water tests in Windsor indicated that it still needed to be boiled before being consumed.
• The community was mourning the death of Victor Martin McCann, who spent 50 years operating a Windsor grocery store and, in his youth, played defense for the Windsor Maple Leafs when they won the provincial title in 1922-23.
• The Imperial Theatre in Windsor once again was offering something for all tastes. Among the films they were showing was The Sound of Music; Jigsaw; They Came to Rob Las Vegas; Walt Disney’s Family Band; the Torture Garden; The Subject was Roses; Rachel, Rachel; and a midnight to dawn triple bill of Beauty and the Beast, Blood and Black Lace, and Nature Girl and the Slaver.
• In the Hants History column dating back to 1944, there was a ‘magnificent display of tulips’ at the Haliburton House grounds, and forests had to be closed to the public due to fire hazard. Sgt. Christine Crowell, CWAC, Windsor, was crowned queen of the 1944 Apple Blossom Festival.
In wartime news from 1944, flying officer Allister Stephens, of Curry’s Corner, was reported to have flown a plane-load of paratroopers during the D-Day invasion and made it back to England with a dead engine and a propeller missing.
Col. Wood, the district hygiene officer, noted that if the Town of Windsor didn’t install a chlorinating plant to purify the water, the town would be declared “out of bounds” for troops.
It was also noted that flying officer George Wilcox and Capt. Ralph Knowles were both reported as being killed in action.
• In the Hants History column from 1919, Windsor Amusement Company opened a motion picture business; Ralph Holmes’ car stalled on the railway tracks in Hantsport and the two occupants had to jump clear; a group of women on Panuke Road reportedly attacked Capt. L.E. Parker, of Newport, with sticks and stones; and William Curry sold his Mount Denson farm in favour of moving to Hantsport.
