60 years ago
SEPTEMBER 9, 1943
A group of Marion ladies, members of the Red Cross Canteen class of last winter, go to Newton now and then to assist the group there in baking and distributing cookies to the boys in the service passing through there on the trains. This past Tuesday night, they were there from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. They had serviced a number of trains with many interesting incidents when a train pulled in and armed guards stepped from each coach on either side. Six thousand German prisoners were being taken to camps. Some of the boys peering out of the windows were very young. But for the insane ambitions of a paperhanger, these lads and our boys might have been good friends had they met in our schools and colleges instead of being trained to kill each other.
With a total enrollment of 169 students, Marion High School starts the current school year with practically the same number of students as last year. There is a total of 72 boys compared with a total of 97 girls. Marion has a complete staff of teachers. Some other schools in the county have not yet filled their teaching staff, and one school, Lincolnville, has had to postpone opening for a week until teachers are secured.
Temporary prison camps are being established in the vicinity of Peabody, Council Grove, Burden, and Manhattan in order to help relieve the shortage in farm labor this fall. The camp in this county, which is located just south of Peabody, contains 112 German prisoners from the permanent camp at Concordia, and they will remain here as long as they are needed.
Miss Viola Thompson presented her junior piano class in a recital Friday afternoon. Students performing included Jeanine Williamson, Diana Herbert, Janice Meisner, Patsy Rittel, Carol Ann Oblander, Patricia Henry, Donna Stenzel, Nancy Fay Allen, Marilyn Reh, Carole Schlehuber, Phyllis Fay Youk, Pauline Kay Minear, Michael Brodhead, David Willis Wheeler, Dale Hobein, Karen Brodhead, Janet Holub, Vicki Black, Neva Stenzel, and Lenore Wheeler. Readings were given by David and Lenore Wheeler, Marlys Jean Rupp, and Billy Carpenter.
