Forum Flashbacks: March 27-April 2
Inez Bowman First woman elected to Maryville City Council
50 years ago
Maryville Daily Forum, April 2, 1975
Mrs. Inez Bowman, Maryville businesswoman, Tuesday became the first woman ever elected to the Maryville City Council, winning a one-year unexpired term over J.B. Taylor in the city general election.
In the voting for two three-year terms, incumbents Marlin Slagle and Gerald “Doc” Henggeler were re-elected to the Council, finishing ahead of Mrs. Linda May and Mrs. Beverly Carmichael.
The three winners are expected to be sworn in at the next regular meeting of the Council on April 14.
Mrs. Bowman received more votes than any other candidate, 780, with Slagle finishing with 726 and Henggeler receiving 654.
80 years ago
Maryville Daily Forum, March 27, 1945
The plane in which Sgt Marlin W McGinness of Barnard was ball turret gunner, was damaged over a bridge on the Brenner line and the plane was forced to land in the Adriatic sea, near a small island of S Andriga, off the coast of Yugoslavia.
This is the information contained in a letter dated March 9 and received by his parents that was written from Italy, where he is in a base hospital near Foggia. Sgt McGinness gave the following information about the accident in which three of the crew were lost at sea. McGinness was responsible for the rescue of other crew members. Fighting a tough sea these remaining members of the crew made their way in a small raft to a small island inhabited by sixty partisan Yugoslavs, definitely Allied.
Their village consisted of three houses, a church, a boat house and a guard house. The natives befriended them by giving them food, shelter and clothing. The drink consisted of hot tea and Rockeye (pronounced Rock-Key) which is a cross between gasoline and TNT which did the work. The food was eggs, spinach with olive oil and brown bread.
The natives gave the men jackets, caps and shoes in exchange for their pistols, jackets and flying clothes, washed their own clothes, gave them an eighteen-foot fishing boat in which they made their way to the Island of Vis fourteen miles away. After a rest period of two days, they were sent to Bari and hospitalized.
McGinness and the remaining members of his crew will be unable to fly for some length of time if they are able to fly at all. They are all suffering from severe nervous shock and exhaustion.
100 years ago
The Maryville Daily Democrat-Forum, March 27, 1925
School Unsafe Is the Opinion of Elmo Patrons
Many patrons of the Elmo High School have viewed the Elmo school building on the request of the Elmo School Board, and it seemed to be the general opinion that the building was unsafe to continue school in this building. The Board made arrangements immediately to finish this term in the churches of the town after getting the consent of the various boards.
A bond issue for $40,000 to build a new school building at Elmo was recently defeated by a small majority. Another bond election will be held Tuesday, April 7. At this time the patrons will vote for or against the floating of a $35,000 bond issue to build a new high school.
The old High School building was further damaged by the wind a week ago. The furniture and fixtures are being stored, as a house on the school ground at Elmo has been erected for this purpose.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The flashbacks are courtesy of the Missouri Digital Newspaper Project from the State Historical Society of Missouri, accessible at shsmo.newspapers.com.
Sgt. M W McGinness
MARYVILLE DAILY FORUM, MARCH 29, 1975
50 YEARS AGO: Gaining a different perspective of the world during recess at left is Amy Gilland, daughter of Bill and Verna Hill. She is a student at Eugene Field Elementary School.
