Each month we will post a "look back" at an event that happened 50 years ago, and when possible, post an oral history (either video, audio, or text) from someone involved in that event! 

January 7, 1954 ~May 27, 1954     Orford, NH            Woodsville News-Times

•Bob Richmond and another Dartmouth student were on a skiing trip to Mt. Tremblant, near Quebec.

•One day last week Bea Richmond took Sarah Jackson, Helen Cothran, Jim Hall and Hal McCann to Stowe, Vt., for a day’s skiing.

•Lynn McCann returned Sunday to Durham and Hal Monday to Philips Exeter Academy, after spending their Christmas vacation with their parents, Mr. and Mrs. F.F. McCann and sister Dede. Russell Swan, Bill Baker and Jim Hall also returned Sunday to Durham; Eddie Green to Proctor Academy on Monday; Alayne Shaw and Louise Davis to Concord Commercial College, Irene Pease to Burdett Business College, Boston, Sunday and Robert Richmond to Dartmouth Tuesday.

•Harlan Skinner has been assisting Henry Lavoie, who was ill, with his barn chores but Mr. Lavoie now is able to do his own work.

•Henry Lavoie and daughter, Carol, and another daughter, Mrs. Frank Woodward, of Woodsville, attended the Ice Capades in Boston, going by excursion train.

1/14/54            Orford             Woodsville News-Times

•Junior Guild met Wednesday afternoon with Doris Maughan when officers were elected for the ensuing year: president, Martha Miller; vice-president, Marjorie Hebb; treasurer, “Bunny” Allen, recording secretary, Jean Cook, ordering secretary, Flora Blake. The sum of $210 was reported in the treasury after the purchase of the new linoleum recently laid on the kitchen floor in the parsonage. Next project is redecorating the vestry.

1\21\54            Orford             Woodsville News-Times

•Word has been received that Mrs. Leroy Jerman sold Orford Inn to Mr. and Mrs. John Myers, of West Collinwood, N.J. They expect to arrive April 1 to take possession.

2\4\54              Orford             Woodsville News-Times

•Willing Workers met on a recent afternoon at the home of Minnie McEwan, with 10 members present. Elizabeth Lackey presided at the business meeting in the absence of President Anna Allen. Phyllis Lawrence reported that the floor runner and rug for the church have been ordered and will arrive soon. They voted to serve dinner at the Grafton Orange County association which will meet here in the spring.

•Youth Fellowship met in the parsonage Sunday evening with 28 present including 10 from the Lyme Center group. Devotions were led by Doris Davis. A film, “Boy Meets Girl,” was shown by Rev. Maughan, followed by a discussion on same. Games were played and refreshments served by the committee: Margaret Reeves, Joan Baker, Bea Richmond and Shirley and Jane Smith.

•Junior Guild met with Daisy Stevens with 10 members present. It was decided to ask the county Home Demonstration agent if she would come to one of their meetings and give them instructions in various handcrafts. Bernice Sanborn and Flora Blake, hostesses, served refreshments.

•Mr. and Mrs. Frank Bonnett spent Sunday night at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Briggs in White River Junction, leaving Monday morning for Fairhope, Ala., where they will spend a few weeks with their friends, Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Currier, formerly of Orford. They will also tour into Florida. [I bet they went by train – not unusual enough to remark on in those days but not for long!]

2\11\54            Orford             Woodsville News-Times

•Thursday evening a committee consisting of Bob Carr, Ralph Mack and F.F. McCann, appointed at Town Meeting, met at Glenn Pease’s with Howard Mason, school superintendent, to discuss plans for a community building. Sunday the committee of three met at Mr. McCann’s with an architect from Woodstock, Vt., for more discussion.

2\18\54            Orford             Woodsville News-Times

•Mr. and Mrs. G.E. Sunderhauf and Mrs. Pricilla Prickett, of Kew Gardens, N.Y., purchased the Charles Jackson house on the Ridge. They will take possession in the spring. Mrs. Sunderhauf will be remembered as Mildred Colburn, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Colburn of Lyme.

2\25\54            Orford             Woodsville News-Times

•Several Orford people from the third grade up attended the matinee of the Minneapolis Symphony in Hanover February 12.

•Thirty OHS F.F.A. boys and teacher, Leroy Guptill, were in Barre Thursday to the exhibition of farm, poultry and milk products and lightning rods, chain saws and farm machinery at Barre Auditorium. They also sat in for a while at the Vermont state F.F.A. convention.

3/4/54              Orford             Woodsville News-Times

•Lester Gray and Bradley Baker commenced work Monday for Harold Swan. Mr. and Mrs. Swan returned home from Largo, Fla., February 22 after spending several weeks there. At present Harold and his men are working at Cottage Hospital in Woodsville.

•Horton Washburn visited his sister and husband, Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Verry in Wilmington, Del., part of last week. His sister, Lucille Washburn, R.N., of Northfield, Vt. accompanied him. While there they went on a sightseeing tour of New York City. Mrs. Allen Flint and two children visited her father, Harvey Washburn, while Horton was away.

3\11\54            Orford             Woodsville News-Times

•Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Beal of Malden, Mass., were in town for Town Meeting.

•Jeffrey Bean was in town Sunday with his fiancé, Miss Virginia Harriman of Rumney. He called on his father, Phillip Bean, his grandmother, Mrs. Carrie Bean and his cousin, Maurice Bean. Miss Harriman is the young lady who was recently elected Mica Queen and whose photograph was in several papers. Her father is connected with Ashley Mica Mines.

3\18\54            Orford             Woodsville News-Times

•Divorce Granted: Harold Lawrence Huntington, Orford v. Delores J. Huntington, Allston, Mass. [This is the woman he met in California. I’ve never found her maiden name nor much about her.]

•Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Currier and two children of Fairhope, Alabama, are at their old home, helping the people who purchased it with sugaring. [The Thomson family.]

3\25\54            Orford             Woodsville News-Times

•Mr. and Mrs. Roger McIntire and two children of Newport were Sunday visitors of his uncle and wife, Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Pease. Mr. and Mrs. Howard Pease and son “Dickie” were weekend visitors of his parents. Mr. and Mrs. Amon Burnham and grandson “Dickie” Burnham of West Rumney were also weekend guests. A “sugaring off” party was enjoyed by all Sunday.

•PFC Frank Hammond of Fort Dix, N.J., was with his parents, Dr. and Mrs. John Hammond the past weekend. Frank is having a 10-day leave before going to California, thence to be stationed somewhere in the Pacific.

•Mr. and Mrs. LaVern Schauer were in Manchester Sunday to attend the dog show. There were 13 Shetland Sheep dogs in one class, the blue-ribbon winner being a kennelmate [from Goldenledge Kennels in Attleboro, Mass.,] of the dog the Schauer’s now own.

4\8\54              Orford             Woodsville News-Times

•Frank Bonnett is back on the RFD again after two months’ vacation, most of which was spent with Mrs. Bonnett on a tour of the South.

•[Bobby Pearson and Hal McCann both broke a leg skiing last week.]

•Mr. and Mrs. John Myers and Mary Ellen and Johnny, of Collingswood, N.J. and Mr. and Mrs. Robert Jones, of Moorestown, N.J., arrived at Orford Inn, which they recently purchased from Mrs. L.U. Jerman. Mr. Myers was in real estate and Mr. Jones was a physical education director at the Y.M.C.A.

4\22\54            Orford             Woodsville News-Times

•Mrs. Robert Carr, R.N., went to Atlanta, Ga., Tuesday to the Communicable Disease Center, where she will take a three-week course in Epidemiology for Nurses.

•Horton Washburn, O.H. S. junior, took a veal calf to the East Thetford, Vt., Commission Sale last Monday evening. On the way home, between Maurice Bea’s and his home, a distance of less than a mile, he spotted six deer, two foxes and a racoon.

•Several members of the Wheeler family of Boston spent a few days at their home here on the Ridge. Mrs. Clarence Andrews cooked for them.

4/29/54            Orford             Woodsville News-Times

•Chester Pierce took 26 Grafton County 4-H members to Manchester Friday on a vocational and sightseeing tour of the city. They visited the Notre Dame and Veterans’ hospitals, a shoe factory, radio and TV stations, some of the larger stores and other places of interest.

•[Orford P.T.A. officers for the ensuing year were elected last week Wednesday evening: President, Ralph Mack; Vice-President, Hazel Donnelly; Secretary, Fred Richardson [OHS teacher;] secretary, Burton Wadsworth.]

•Mr. and Mrs. Harold Swan report their daughter-in-law, Mrs. Charles Swan, Denise and Stevie are nicely located in Ota, Japan, with her husband, Lieut. Charles Swan. This is about 60 inland from Tokyo. Their car and household goods have not arrived yet. Little Denise has a playmate, a little Jap boy of her age and they converse very sociably, each in their own language. [Apparently too close to the war to think about the racist version of the boy’s nationality. Certainly doesn’t seem as if any insult was intended – just not thinking!]

•Henry Horton is improving so he gets out on the porch and goes for rides in the afternoon.

•O.H.S. Principal Elmer Fulton took Roberta and Peter Richmond and Roxanne Chamberlain of Fairlee to Tuckerman’s Ravine on Mt. Washington, for skiing Saturday.

•Mrs. Ethel Millen resumed teaching in the third and fourth grades after being out for a few weeks due to a broken wrist. Mrs. Harlan Skinner substituted.

5\6\54              Orford             Woodsville News-Times

•Leroy Guptill and six F.F.A. boys went on the Boston Marketing tour last week: Charles Smith, Bill Willey, Nelson Kennedy, Don Elder, Frank Balch and John Franklin.

•Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Wilcox are at their summer home on the Ridge. Reginald Munn of Fairlee went to Connecticut to drive them here.

•Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Perkins and children of West Rumney and Dorice Pease and Charles Gilbert of Wentworth, were at Glenn Pease’s Sunday. This was a triple birthday celebration in honor of Vernon’s, Dorice’s and Mrs. Pease’s birthdays.

•Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Ladd left early Saturday morning for Victoria, N.B., to attend the New Brunswick conference and graduation. Their foster daughter, Maxine Porter, who just completed her first year there, came home with them.

5\20\54            Orford             Woodsville News-Times

•Mr. and Mrs. Howard Pease and son of Plymouth visited his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Pease Sunday. A double birthday celebration was observed, honoring the birthdays of Glenn and his mother, Mrs. Mabel Pease, who was 86 years old. [Dad was the only son, after six daughters, born in 1906 on his mother’s birthday.]

•Dr. and Mrs. John Hammond received two letters Saturday from their son, PFC Frank Hammond, first they have heard since he left for the Pacific area. He is stationed in the Pusan area.

•Mr. and Mrs. Henry Lavoie sold their farm to Tony Farrell of Woodstock, Vt. Mr. Farrell has other farms in the vicinity but planns to move his family here to the Lavoie place [Within two years, resold to George and Barbara Tullar; now Tullando Farm.]

5\27\54            Orford             Woodsville News-Times

•Mr. and Mrs. Henry Lavoie purchased the Fred Brock farm. [At the north end of the East Common.]

•Rural Life Sunday was observed in both Orford churches Sunday. Nine members of the choir of the Orford West Congregational Church took part in services in the Orfordville Church, assisted by Mrs. Gerald Davis. Then Mrs. Davis went to the Orford Street church to sing with the choir there. The Mt. Cube 4-H Club attended in a body at the Orfordville Church and members of the Mt. Cube Grange went in a body to the Street church. Rev. Maughan preached on “The Good Shephard.”

•Memorial Day observance will be held at Fairlee, Orford and Bradford Monday, May 31, conducted by the Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion. Speakers will be Revs. Hugh P. Holland and J. Holland Maughan and ritual will be at Orford at 9 a.m. and Fairlee at 10 p.m.

  Parade from Orford cemetery to Fairlee cemetery will be led by the North Woodstock band of 50-60 pieces, directed by C. George McClure, escorted by the V.F.W. colors. Patriotic delegations, scouts and children are invited to join in the parade.

  Raymond Thurber is busy placing flags on the graves of soldiers in the several cemeteries of Bradford. Mr. Thurber, member of the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars, has done this work of patriotism for six years.