Ritzville Journal-Times, Thursday, July 3, 1952 Adams County, Ritzville, WA ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ************************************************ ==================================================================== This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Sue Gardner sueboo18@hotmail.com ==================================================================== Ritzville Journal-Times, Thursday, July 3, 1952 None Ritzville Journal-Times, Thursday, July 10, 1952 Starring Funeral Set for Saturday Here Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, July 12, in the Danekas and Duncan funeral chapel for J. P. Starring, who recently passed away in Los Angeles. Starring was survived by two sons, Robert Starring of Seattle, and Dale Starring of Lind, and one step-daughter, Alta Dalton, of Spokane. Interment will be made at the Ritzville cemetery. Danekas and Duncan funeral home is in charge of arrangements. Carl Beck, Lind, Dies At Age 81 A Lind pioneer passed away Friday in the Adams County hospital. He was Carl Beck, 81, a retired farmer who had resided in the Lind area for the past 23 years. Beck was survived by his wife, Magdelina, at the home. Three sons, Edwin and Fred Beck of Lind and Bennie Beck of Cheney. Seven daughters, Miss Johanna Beck of Spokane, Mrs. Bertha Wahl of Newburg, Ore., and Mrs. Amelia Sauer of Portland. Also Mrs. Pauline Roloff of Spokane, Mrs. Helen Gutschmidt of Wilbur, Mrs. Justin Winkler of Plymouth, and Mrs. Rose Scheeler of Lind. Also a brother, John Beck of North Dakota. Funeral services were held Monday, July 7, at the Congregational church of Lind with the Rev. Edward Schmidt officiating. Interment was at the Lind cemetery. Funeral services were arranged by the Danekas and Duncan funeral home. Ritzville Journal-Times, Thursday, July 17, 1952 August Wellsandt, 86, Dies Tuesday, Funeral Friday August Wellsandt, sr., Adams county pioneer and retired wheat rancher, passed away at his home Tuesday at the age of 86. Wellsandt was born in Marienfelde, Germany, and settled in this area in 1885. Wellsandt was survived by his wife, Elise, at the home; three daughters, Mrs. O. D. Sewell of Spokane, Mrs. Albert Ott of Ritzville, and Mrs. Joe T. Smith of Sprague. Also three sons, Ted, Walter and August, jr., all of Ritzville; 15 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Friday, July 18, at the Emanuel Lutheran church with the Rev. F. J. Ahrendt officiating. Interment will be in the Lutheran cemetery. Danekas and Duncan funeral home is in charge of arrangments. Ritzville Journal-Times, Thursday, July 24, 1952 Final Services Conducted Here for August Wellsandt, Sr., 86 Funeral services for one of Adams county's best-known pioneers, August Wellsandt, Sr., who died recently at the age of 86, were held last Friday in the Emanuel Lutheran church. Wellsandt, an early day settler in the Ritzville area, was the last surviving charter member of Emanuel Lutheran church. The Rev. F. J. Ahrendt officiated at the rites. Burial was in the Lutheran cemetery. Wellsandt was born in Marienfelde, West Prussia, Germany, on Nov. 12, 1865 - final year of the American Civil War - and came to the United States in 1895 at the age of 20. After a few months in Nebraska he traveled by train to Walla Walla. Jobs were scarce in those days and the young Wellsandt was glad to tackle back-breaking farm work of wages of one dollar a day. In the fall of 1896 Wellsandt came to the Ritzville area and the following year he purchased a relinguishment - the farm about six miles east of Ritzville operated now by one his sons, Ted. Breaking virgin sod with two or three horses pulling a walking plow, Wellsandt labored with other Adams county pioneers to develop successful wheat farms from a sagebrush and jackrabbit area most early travelers wrote off as an uninhabitable desert. Wellsandt recalled in an interview with Maude Sellars of the Journal-Times several years ago that the old Mullan road from Walla Walla to Colville ran only four miles from his place, and he occasionally saw Indians making the long trek. Wellsandt was married in 1894 to the former Elizabeth Seegar, also a native of Germany. She had worked from the age of 12 at a hotel in Sprague, devoting all of her $2 a week wages to help support her parents. Not infrequently Mr. and Mrs. Wellsandt harnessed up a team of horses and covered the long journey from their ranch to Sprague where they sold their butter and eggs and picked up a load of old railroad ties for firewood. For entertainment the Wellsandts and some of their neighbors would gather at a farmhouse to talk, eat and dance to the music of accordions and violins. With his farm well developed after years of dawn-to-dusk labor, Wellsandt suffered a breakdown in 1909. He was forced to give up farming. Some doctors told him he had not long to live. But during a year's rest he recovered so fully that his life instead extended for 47 more years until last July 15. Returning to farm, Wellsandt took a ranch about one mile east of Ritzville - the place now farmed by another son, August, jr. Again he had to start developing the farm from scratch, digging a well and breaking sod. The Wellsandts retired from farming in 1939 when they moved to Ritzville. The elder Wellsandt was a long time member of the Grange. He was also the last surviving of five brothers all well known in this area. The other four were Gustav Wellsandt, L. A. Wellsandt, John Wellsandt and the Rev. Karl Wellsandt. A third surviving son, Walter, farms near Tokio. Wellsandt's widow, Elizabeth, and three daughters, Mrs. O. D. Sewell of Spokane, Mrs. Albert Ott of Ritzville, and Mrs. Joe T. Smith of Sprague, also survive. Danekas and Duncan funeral home was in charge of arrangements. Ritzville Journal-Times, Thursday, July 31, 1952 Connell Man, 31, Takes Own Life Wednesday OTHELLO - Clyde S. Harris, 31, Standard Oil bulk distributor in Connell, apparently took his own life with a 12-guage shotgun south of Othello, about a half-mile into Franklin county, Wednesday evening. Investigating for Adams county were Sheriff Frank Lucas, Deputy Sheriff Mark Leighton of Othello, and prosecuting attorney Edward G. Cross. Sheriff Lucas said Harris had been with Robert Horn and Mrs. Robert S. Thompson shortly before he took his own life with a shotgun belonging to Horn. The sheriff said Harris left a note concerned with personal matters. He was married and was the father of three children. His body has been taken to Danekas and Duncan funeral home in Ritzville. Deputy Sheriff Leighton said Harris, Horn and Mrs. Thompson had been at Scotteney Springs about 25 miles south of Othello earlier yesterday evening. Leighton and Harris apparently left the other two and drove in a car owned by Mrs. Thompson to a point where Horn's pickup, with the shotgun, had been parked. Funeral Is Held for Jacob Thiel Funeral services for Jacob Calvin Thiel, who lived in the Ritzville area for 69 of his 70 years, were held Tuesday afternoon at the Philadelphia Congregational church with the Rev. R. Kirschenmann officiating. Burial was in the Ritzville Memorial cemetery. Thiel was born in 1882 in Nebraska. His family came to Ritzville when he was one year old. He farmed in this area many years before retiring to Ritzville. He was a member of the Philadelphia Congregational church. He died last Friday. Survivors include his widow, Anna May, at the home; five daughters, Mrs. Loren C. Griffith, Mrs. Ernest Deking and Mrs. Walter Deking, all of Ritzville; Mrs. Roy Kinzel of Cheney; and Mrs. John Huff of Spokane; and one son, Walter H. Thiel of Ritzville. Also surviving are three brothers, H. W. Thiel and William R. Thiel, both of Ritzville, and the Rev. Peter J. Thiel of California; and two sisters, Mrs. Marie Eckhart of Seattle and Mrs. Earl J. Colwell of Ritzville. Nine grandchildren also survive. Funeral Is Held for Mrs. Scott SPOKANE - Funeral services were held here Saturday for Mrs. Della Scott, longtime Adams county resident who died the previous Wednesday at the age of 95. Burial was in Riverside cemetery. Mrs. Scott and her husband, who died in 1934, came west from Odessa, Mo., in 1899. They lived at Colville and Sprague before moving to the Benge area where they farmed for many years. Surviving are three sons, Roy P. Scott of Ritzville, Allen Scott of Benge, and Bill Scott of Washtucna, and a daughter, Mrs. Wallace Beckley of Colville. Ritzville Journal-Times, Thursday, August 7, 1952 Rites Held for Lowell Benedict SPOKANE - Funeral services for Lowell Benedict, 42, former Ritzville resident and son-in-law of Ritzville chief of police Joe Schafer, were held here in a Spokane valley cemetery. Benedict died Monday at Sacred Heart hospital where he had been a patient for about five weeks. A native of Tacoma, Benedict was married to the former Ruby Schafer, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joe Schafer. He operated a beauty salon in Ritzville before leaving in 1942 to join the Washington state patrol in Spokane, where he had lived ever since. Survivors include the widow, Ruby, and a 17-year-old son, Dan. Ritzville Journal-Times, Thursday, August 14, 1952 None Ritzville Journal-Times, Thursday, August 21, 1952 Washtucnan's Kin Drowning Victim WASHTUCNA - Mrs. A. Camp received word of the accidental drowning Sunday of her grandson, Clifford Fike, 17, of Woodlawn, Wash. No details were learned. Mrs. Camp was in Sandpoint at the time visiting her son and daughter- in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Camp. She and her son arrived here Tuesday, after spending the night in Spangle with another son, Clifford and his wife. The Clifford Camps expected to arrive here Tuesday evening, and the group planned to leave Wednesday morning for Woodlawn to attend the funeral Thursday. The victim was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Earl Fike. Mrs. Fike is the former Bernice Camp, who lived here prior to her marriage. Ritzville Journal-Times, Thursday, August 28, 1952 Funeral Is Held for Smith, 55 Funeral services for Andrew Lee Smith, 55, who was employed by the Union Pacific Railroad at Marengo, were held Wednesday afternoon in the Danekas and Duncan funeral home chapel with the Rev. F. J. Ahrendt officiating. Survivors include his widow, Elsie, of Marengo, a daughter, Shirley Ann, and two sons, Buster of Marengo and Charles who is stationed with the army at Greensville, S.Car. Also surviving are three sisters, Mrs. W. V. Reed and Mrs. Emma Williamson, both of Winfield, Texas, and Mrs. W. H. Hall of Spokane; and a brother, Ralph of Winfield. Polio Hits Home; Elaine Sielaff Is Victim Polio struck home last Friday when Mrs. Elaine Janette Sielaff, a 20-year-old Adams county housewife, died of infantile paralysis in a Spokane hospital only a few days after she had been stricken. At least three other Adams county residents have been inflicted with polio this year - none of whom fatally but one seriously - in the most violent outbreak of infantile paralysis in this county in many years. Funeral services for Mrs. Sielaff, the former Elaine Kessler, were held Tuesday at Emanuel Lutheran church with the Rev. F. J. Ahrendt officiating. Burial was in the Lutheran cemetery. Mrs. Sielaff was born in Ritzville, though her parents lived in the Sprague area at the time. She moved here eight years ago and attended Ritzville high school, where she was highly popular with her classmates and teachers and took part in many school activities. The former Miss Kessler attained unusual prominence in tennis when she and the former Marjorie Edwards, who is now Mrs. Jim Schoesler, teamed in girls' doubles to capture the district Class B tournament at Spokane in 1949, their senior year. Miss Kessler delivered the invocation at commencement exercises when the Class of '49 graduated. Her employment during school years included working as a waitress at Templin's Cafe, and in the bindery department of the Ritzville Journal-Times. Miss Kessler attended Washington State College for one year before her marriage to Dale Sielaff in 1950. The couple lived on a farm in the Marengo area. Survivors include her mother, Mrs. Herman Kessler of Ritzville; two younger sisters, Joanne and Donna; and a brother, LeRoy, and husband, Dale. Danekas and Duncan funeral home was in charge of arrangements. Train Victim is Buried in KC KANSAS CITY, Kan. - The body of Charles A. Lancaster was buried here last week, about one month after the 77-year-old man was struck by a Northern Pacific railway passenger train near Tokio in Adams County, Washington. Lancaster, who walked down the tracks to meet the train before apparently changing his mind and attempting to leap out of the way, was taken to Adams County Memorial hospital with a "small" brain concussion, and other injuires. He died there Aug. 16, three weeks after the accident. Survivors include two brothers, Elmer of Guyman, Okla., and Ray of Memphis, Tenn.; a sister, Mrs. Grace Nocks of Troy, Kan., and two granddaughters, Mrs. Joe Becker and Mrs. Wilma Hunt, both of Kansas City. Ritzville Journal-Times, Thursday, September 4, 1952 Funeral Held for Former Journal-Times Publisher Funeral services were held Thursday afternoon for Roy C. Irvine, 71, who died Monday after spending the last 24 years of his life in Ritzville as publisher of the Ritzville Journal-Times, owner and manager of the Ritz Theater and civic leader. "Even during the hard and heart-breaking depression years," Judge Richard B. Ott told a chamber of commerce meeting Wednesday, "Roy Irvine never lost faith in the future of this community. He was one of the most outstanding civic leaders Ritzville ever had." Irvine published the Journal-Times from 1928 to 1937, when he retired from the newspaper business to operate the Ritz Theater. Most local business firms closed from 2 to 3 p.m. Thursday while funeral services were being conducted at Danekas and Duncan funeral home chapel with Edward G. Cross serving as lay reader. Scheduled to act as pall bearers were Judge Ott, Rich Kembel, Rex Phillips, Fred Slipper, Bob Stanfield, Paul Davis, H. W. Ohland, Carl Spliid, George Gearhart and Martin Meyer. Irvine was stricken with a heart attack shortly after being taken to Adams County Memorial hospital by the Danekas and Duncan funeral home ambulance. A native of Independence, Ore., where he was born Oct. 29, 1880, Irvine published the Lacrosse Clipper for about 12 years before purchasing the Journal-Times from Charles A. Sprague in January of 1928. Irvine published his first issue of the Ritzville newspaper on March 1, 1928. "We shall always do our utmost to further the welfare of our new hometown, and the surrounding country," Irvine pledged in his opening editorial. "The fact that we searched for eight months for a new newspaper and traveled hundreds of miles in that search only to purchase the Journal-Times within one week after we heard it was for sale, is evidence enough of our faith in Adams County." Roy Irvine never lost that faith, Judge Ott said at the chamber of commerce meeting, even though he had taken over the Journal-Times on the eve of the thriving 1920s only to have the nation plunge into depression less than 18 months later. Irvine with his wife, Daisy, usually operating the typesetting machine, published the Journal-Times for about nine years, until 1937, when he sold the paper to Bill Wilmot, then a young University of Washington graduate, to take over fulltime operation of the Ritz Theater which he had acquired 18 months before. Not long after Irvine constructed the present day Ritz, then and still one of the finest show places in the Big Bend. An active civic leader, Irvine was president of the Ritzville Chamber of Commerce in 1934. Irvine is survived at the home by his widow, Daisy, and by two grand nieces, who have living with the Irvines, Joanne and Joyce Shoemaker. He is also survived by a sister-in-law, Mrs. Grace Shoemaker of Clarkston, two nieces, Bernice Schalock of Edwall and Norma Snead of Seattle; and five nephews, Orno and Vincent Shoemaker, both of Clarkston; Loren Shoemaker, serving with the armed forces in Germany; Don Haines of Chewlah; and Harold Haines of Inchelium. Ten other great nieces and great nephews also survive. Ritzville Journal-Times, Thursday, September 11, 1952 Three Funerals Are Conducted Last Week Funeral services were held Monday for Karl L. Wellsandt, 68, who died Sept. 5, in the Adams County Memorial hospital. Wellsandt, a retired farmer, had lived in this area for the past 65 years. He is survived by three children, Mrs. Ed Thom, Ritzville; Mrs. E. A. Rehn, Wenatchee; and Victor of Ritzville; two sisters, Mrs. Lena Dehnel and Mrs Minnie Gaskill of Ritzville; four brothers, John A., Emil A., and William F., of Ritzville, and Henry H. Wellsandt of Dayton. Graveside services were held for Ned Joel Phillips, infant son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Phillips of Lind, Friday at the Lind cemetery. The infant was survived by his parents; one brother, Kirk Robert, at the home; and his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Phillips of Lind and Mr. and Mrs. Joel German of Ritzville. Funeral services were held in the Danekas-Duncan funeral home chapel Tuesday for Mrs. Gertrude Mary Cuff, 50, of Ritzville. Mrs. Cuff, a resident of Ritzvile for the past 32 years, was survived by her husband, Frank J. Cuff, at the home; one son, Robert Cuff of Burlingame, Cal.; one daughter, Mrs. Luvene Williams of San Francisco and one grandson. Ritzville Journal-Times, Thursday, September 19, 1952 Funeral Conducted for Henry Scheel SPOKANE - Funeral services were held here last week for Henry Scheel, who was born and raised in the Ritzville area. Scheel had lived for many years at Republic where he owned a pool hall. He was a brother of Will Scheel of Ritzville. Burial was in Riverside cemetery. Funeral Is Held For Johnston, 89 Funeral services for one of Ritzville's oldest pioneers, Thomas George Johnston, who died Sunday hardly a month short of his 90th birthday, were conducted Wednesday afternoon at the Danekas and Duncan funeral home chapel with the Rev. Alfred Carter officiating. Burial was in Ritzville. Johnston was born in Omemee, Ontario, Canada, on Oct. 15, 1892. He had been in the United States 70 years and had owned property in Adams county 63 years. He retired from farming and moved to Ritzville some years ago. Survivors include the widow, Jennie, at the home; two daughters, Miss Violett J. Johnston of CleElum and Mrs. George LaMont of Casablanca in French Morocco, Africa; a son, James O. Johnston of Salmo, B. C., four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Ritzville Journal-Times, Thursday, September 25, 1952 Karl Wellsandt Came To Ritzville Area in 1887 Karl Louie Wellsandt, who died recently in Ritzville at the age of 68, was born in Crete, Neb., on March 10, 1884, and came to this area with his parents in 1887. He spent most of his life on a ranch near Ritzville, retiring from active farming and moving to town about 11 years ago. Wellsandt was baptized and confirmed in the Lutheran church and was a lifelong member of the church. He was a member of Marcellus, Adams County Pomona and Washington State Grange, and had contributed dozens of hours of labor to assist in the construction of the new Marcellus Grange Hall. His hobby was raising roses and he had a large assortment in his yard. Wellsandt was married on Nov. 20, 1907, to Sophie Moeller, who died only six months before her husband. Survivors include a son, Victor, of Ritzville; two daughters, Mrs. Lucille Thom of Ritzville and Mrs. Irene Rehm of Wenatchee; two sisters, Mrs. Lena Dehnel and Mrs. Minnie Gaskill, both of Ritzville; and four brothers, John, William and Emil, all of Ritzville, and Henry of Dayton. His funeral was held Sept. 8 at Emanuel Lutheran church with the Rev. F. J. Ahrendt officiating. Burial was in the Lutheran cemetery. Funeral Is Held for Mrs. Ziemer Funeral services were held Tuesday afternoon for Mrs. Augusta Alvina Ziemer, who died last Saturday, a single day before what would have been her 64th birthday. The Rev. F. J. Ahrendt officiated over the rites in Emanuel Lutheran church. Burial was in the Lutheran cemetery. Another of Adams County's longtime pioneers, Mrs. Ziemer was born Sept. 21, 1888, in Germany and migrated to Good Thunder, Minn., in 1905. There she was married to Ernest Ziemer in May of 1908. The couple came west to farm 15 miles northeast of Ritzville, retiring to town in 1937. Mrs. Ziemer was baptized in the Lutheran church in Germany and was a member here of Emanuel Lutheran church, the German Ladies' Aid of the church and Marcellus Grange. Survivors include her husband at the home; a daughter, Mrs. A. F. Schweer of Ritzville; two sons, Richard of Davenport and Ervin of Ritzville; and three grandsons.