December 20, 1946
• Wayne Adkins of Elmo shot three coyotes on the R.L. Stevens farm 10 miles northeast of Tarkio Tuesday morning from an airplane. Mr. Adkins’ wife was piloting the plane when he made the kill.
• Tuesday afternoon, December 24, at three o’clock, the Hy-Klas Food Store in Tarkio will provide a complimentary picture show at the Tarkio Theater for everybody of all ages. Two full hours of entertainment will be given free, the show consisting of five color cartoons plus the feature movie, “Danny Boy,” about a boy and his dog.
• The first annual Veterans of Foreign Wars state basketball tournament has been awarded to the local Atchison County Memorial Post No. 4608, which will be held at Brown Gymanasium in Tarkio March 3-7. Eighteen teams will vie for the chance to win, which in turn will enter them in a national basketball tournament at Creighton in Omaha, Nebraska.
• Earl E. May, widely-known Shenandoah, Iowa, man, died Wednesday, December 18, at a hospital in Duluth, Minnesota. His voice from station KMA, Shenandoah, made him known to thousands. Tarkio College conferred upon him in 1939 the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.
December 23, 1971
• The Tarkio Theatre was destroyed by fire Tuesday night, December 18. The alarm was turned in at 10:15 p.m. The building was completely gutted, but firemen from Tarkio, Fairfax, Rock Port and Westboro Volunteer Fire Departments did a fine job in saving the adjacent buildings although smoke and water damage occured to the buildings on the east and west of the theatre. The sign on the marque “Red Sky at Morning” described the scene. The business and building was owned by Mrs. Virgil Harbison and was leased and being operated by DeWayne Koenig. Only a cleaning woman was present in the building when the fire was discovered as the movie had ended at 9:15 p.m. No injuries were reported.
• John H. Wilcox has been selected secondary principal at Tarkio High School for the 1972-73 school year. He has served the Hamilton, Missouri, School District as Secondary Principal for the past five years.
• Over 600 youngsters paid a visit to Santa Claus in his workshop on Main Street, courtesy of the Tarkio Chamber of Commerce.
December 19, 1996
• The ancient David Rankin sleigh donated to the Atchison County Historical Society Museum has been a big hit for local children’s holiday photos. The sleigh is the property of Jean Gnann of Paso Robles, California, who loans the sleigh to the museum at Christmas time. Gnann is a direct descendant of David Rankin.
• Carolyn Glo (Smith) and Stanley William Bredensteiner are celebrating their 50th anniversary December 21. They married on that day in 1946 at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Northboro, Iowa, and have lived two miles south of the church since their marriage.
• Some of Honey Tree Nursery School students had the following present requests from Santa: Cody Joesting would like a wallet. Alanna Caufield would like a horse. Jess Salmond would like a Ferris Wheel and a Merry-Go-Round. Garrett Hunkins would like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.
• The Tarkio Chamber of Commerce Live Elf Auction raised $3,121.18 this year. Elves and phone operators included Mark Barker, Chris Martin, Chris King, Carla Summa, Craig Livengood, Doug Summa, Jim Lindsay, Eric Livengood, Deb Martin, Margo Byrne, Amy Dowis, and Betsy Chapin.
