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Another fund drive kicked off on March 1, 1944. This one was for the Red Cross. Laurel‘s quota was set at $900. “We will do it,“ said Chairmen A.D. Felber. “We always have. The ladies will do the soliciting. We hope the first canvas will get the job done as Former Laurel resident Eldo Weseloh, a tail gunner on a B-17 bomber, was reported missing in action somewhere in France. No further information was given in the Advocate, but an article in the Wayne Herald a year later told how Sgt. Weseloh’s plane was shot down.
“We had been bombing Frankfurt and flak took out three of our four engines. Our pilot would have made it back on one engine, but two German fighters came at us and drew off our escort. Then three more fighters came out of the sun and got our other engine.“\\ The crew bailed out, and Weseloh managed to find his way back to American lines. He was awarded a Purple Heart for his wounds and an Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters.
Rev. Knud Larsen, who had been pastor of the Danish Lutheran Church for 14 years, decided to fill the pulpit of another church in Staplehurst. Rev. Larsen was in charge when a vacant church was moved from McLean and remodeled into Gethsemane Lutheran.
George Berglund, Laurel‘s International Harvester dealer, sold a half interest in his company to Jack Fennell of Sioux City.
Berglund said the deal was made because of the shortage of help and because he wished to pursue other interests. The firm would be known as Berglund & Fennell.
One of the interests Berglund planned to pursue was politics. In April he entered the primary election for county commissioner in the second district.
Following his win in the November election, Berglund sold the other half of his company to Fennell. In 1948 Fennell sold it to John D. “Dutch” Urwiler.
The Griffin Brothers Cafe was another business forced to close due to the inability to secure help. The business had been founded 25 years earlier by William Griffin, Sr., and then passed down to his two sons. Bill Griffin was left alone when brother “Buck” was drafted. Two months later Buck would be discharged because of his age (47). By that time the cafe was closed and the fixtures sold.
“No more will the country be saved, the war won, and other great problems solved at the Griffin Cafe. It now lives only in the memory of those of us who learned to love the place,” wrote Editor Allison. (This writer still remembers Billy Griffin’s blue 1937 Chevy coupe he was still driving in the 1960s and often parked in front of his old cafe on the south side of Main St.)
Due to the shortage of workers, sheep shearers were scarce and owners of small flocks were having trouble finding sheep barbers. In order to alleviate the shortage, a twoday shearing school was planned for the end of the month. An instructor from the State Vocational Education Department would come to Laurel if at least ten people signed up.
Ingvar Skovbo sold his farm north of town to Roy Dickey of Newcastle. Skovbo said he had bought a farm near Blair.
D. D. Coburn was presented with a badge for having been a Mason in good standing for 50 years. Coburn was one of the founders of the Laurel Masonic Lodge.
The middle of March brought the worst blizzard of the season. “It’s moving time and the roads are so sloppy you couldn’t get a truck through even pulling it with a tractor. “No report on romance this week, he said. “Romance died when ice formed on the side roads and put travel out of commission.”
“One of our gals had a date the other night with one of the super duper he-men from a neighboring town. She prettied herself up, put on her best bib and tucker, and sat gazing out the window waiting for her date to arrive. He didn’t. Seems she had been doing a bit of bragging to a friend, and the friend put on a swooning act that attracted his attention to her fair self. Anyway, Gal No. 1 is waiting for the opportunity to get Gal No. 2 in a corner. She claims there will be a championship hair pulling match and wants us to referee. No thanks, Sister. We’ve been married too long to go looking for that kind of trouble,” said Allison.
