PEA RIDGE — 40 years ago

When Mary Kay Pitts of Libya, North Africa, arrived in Pea Ridge to visit her grandmother Phoebe Pitts, the first thing she wanted was an American hamburger. She was taken to the Dari Park to have her wishes met.

Pfc. John D. Widener, son of Pea Ridge school superintendent and Mrs. Andrew Widener, arrived in Vietnam for a tour of service.

He was assigned to the infantry as a medic with the 25th Division.

The eighth-grade American history class of the Pea Ridge school visited the Pea Ridge Graphic as a study project. The class had 16 members, all girls.

Their teacher, Benjamin Sherwood, planned the trip to coincide with the class’ study of the Renaissance period in history, during which the printing press was invented.

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30 years ago

A tornado did heavy damage at Gann Ridge Lumber at the intersection of Gann Ridge Road and U.S. Hwy. 62 in Gateway and destroyed some trees in the Ray Hurd yard east of the highway. Well over three inches of rain and hail also fell on the area.

Officers were elected for the Pea Ridge high school class of 1981. They were: David Dye, president; Natalie Hardin, vice-president;

Mary Mariano, secretary;

Chris Patton, treasurer; and Jerry Hunter, reporter.

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20 years ago

Pea Ridge school superintendent Marvin Higginbottom was quoted saying of the $100,000 surplus in the budget at the beginning of the school year:“I don’t think the school’s ever had a balance like that at the beginning of school.”

Weeks of 95- to 100-degree temperatures in the area and lack of rainfall cause Lonnie Faddis of the Agricultural Stabilization Conservation office in Bentonville to hold a meeting with an emergency committee about the possibility of seeking disaster classification in the county. Pea Ridge farmer Edith Laramore was having problems with poultry dying and only got 521 bales instead of the usual 800 on the second hay cutting.

The Garfield City Council received a deed for its first City Hall/Community Building. The deedwas presented by leaders of the Garfield Baptist Church and was to a stone structure erected in 1906.

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10 years ago

Pea Ridge High School principal Gary Wayman and the Pea Ridge School Board welcomed visitors to the new high school open house. Superintendent Roy Norvell, as well as each board member and Wayman, addressed the crowd thanking the community for its hard work toward making the building possible.

Pea Ridge National Military Park welcomed John Scott as the new superintendent of the park.

Scott had a 25-year history of work with the National Parks Service and grew up in Springfield, Mo.

Church, Pages 2 on 09/08/2010