December 21, 1945
• Sergeant Sidney R. Crider, age 28, sacrificed his own life December 1 in a drowning accident in Toumon Bay on Guam while saving that of a friend who had swum into dangerous currents and called for help. Sgt. Crider went to his rescue, but was swept out to sea beyond possible rescuing and succumbed to the deep. Serving in the 331st Bombardment Group in the 20th Air Force, Sgt. Crider had been in Guam since April 1945. He enlisted in the service June 24, 1942. Sgt. Crider was a Tarkio High School and Tarkio College graduate and prior to his army career was a teacher in high schools of Ainsworth, Nebraska, and Mount Ayr, Iowa. During his funeral service in Guam, which three Tarkio men were able to attend, a tribute was read by one of his friends. “…He lived according to higher principles of conduct. He never let pass an opportunity to show forth his sterling Christian practices in service to others. It is, then, small wonder that he so completely devoted himself to duty as he saw it in the desperate needs of another man. Surely our God of love and compassion will look tenderly upon such unselfishness. ‘Greater love hath no man than this; that he lay down his life for a friend.’”
• The snowstorm of the past week, one of the heaviest December falls on record, brought to Tarkio a maximum measurement of eight inches at midnight on December 18 when the 48-hour storm stopped. The storm also brought with it the coldest weather of the season with the week’s low of 20.3 degrees below zero at 7:25 a.m. on December 19.
December 24, 1970
• The Tarkio Board of Education has chosen Clifford Smith to assume the duties of Superintendent of Busses. That has been the job of Lester “Taffy” Morton for many, many years, but he will retire on February 1, 1971.
• Five Atchison County citizens were named directors of a non-profit corporation that will administer the affairs of Pleasant View Rest Home in Rock Port after January 1. They are Mrs. Phyllis Burke and Ray O. Richards of Rock Port, Harry Emrick of Fairfax, Warren Morgan of Watson, and Dale Hull of Westboro.
• Mrs. Duane Thiesfeld received a special gift from her Circle 4 4-H Club for her nine years of service to the club. A special “This is Your Life” was narrated by Diane Shineflew who related Mrs. Thiesfeld’s experiences in “the good old days.”
December 21, 1995
• Tarkio Community Betterment’s house lighting contest was judged on Thursday night, December 14, and those who toured the streets found an abundance of decorated homes, many using hundred of lights to outline their homes from top to bottom, fences and all. The winners were: North Side – 1st, Wayne and Kathy Michael, 912 Main Street; and South Side – 1st, Richard and Debbie Tullis, 507 Elm Street.
• Winners of the Magical Christmas Parade, sponsored by the Tarkio Lions Club, included: Tarkio Academy Generals, Community Care of Tarkio, Tarkio Presbyterian Church, and The Tarkio Bus-iness and Professional Women.
