55 years ago

october 31, 1963

A meeting of the Golden Years organization in Hillsboro last week officially culminated the three-year work of the Ford Foundation in Marion County. The county was one of seven pilot projects over the country set up to aid in future planning of activities for the benefit and satisfaction of the aging. Activities for the past two years have been under the direction of Miss Esther E. Twente, member of the staff of Kansas University.

An open house at Southwestern Bell Telephone Company’s new telephone exchange building at 705 Lawrence in Marion will be held Nov. 13 and 14. There will be exhibits and displays showing how the new telephone service operates.

Although he has been eligible for retirement for almost 10 years, Rock Island Railway’s genial agent in Marion, Oscar W. Emrich, is retiring Nov. 1 after 54 years with Rock Island.

The Marion chapter of Future Homemakers of America staged a “Mock Homecoming” football game Oct. 15 played by two girls’ football teams. Unorthodox cheerleaders included football players Gene Schimpf, Max Jackson, Tom Tucker, Dick Hamlin, and Chris Hauser wearing ragged shorts topped with dress shirts and neckties.