Caitlin Gaudreault-Henninger holds her mystery bag in this photo, published Sept. 24, 1987, during the alphabet share period in the moring kindergarten class at Idyllwild Elementary School. Teacher Lori McKenzie (now Maxwell) assisted Caitlin in kicking off the alphabet share program for this week. File photo

60 years ago – 1952
Extra game wardens were assigned to the mountains as deer season opened. A record crowd of hunters was anticipated.

 

55 years ago – 1957
Don and Thelma Frey, Cay Long, Jim Long, Paul Voss, and Chuck and Jo Slaback completed training and qualified as ham radio operators.

50 years ago – 1962
At the end of the first day of kindergarten, a disappointed little student complained to her parents, “We didn’t even learn to write.”

45 years ago – 1967
University Place (likely the McKinney Lane area), near the USC-ISOMATA (now Idyllwild Arts Academy) campus, was the first building tract in Idyllwild to be approved for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) financing, according to builder John McKinney.

40 years ago – 1972
The Central Area Planning Council gave its go-ahead to a recreation trailer camp condominium project in Poppet Flat.

30 years ago – 1982
Lora Steere, longtime Idyllwild resident, received her 80th Squirrel Card for visiting the Tahquitz Peak Lookout. She first visited the lookout years earlier when her father carried her to the top. This time she was carried in her wheelchair-litter.

25 years ago – 1987
A record for the year, 65 Hill residents turned out to give blood and receive a free cholesterol test.

20 years ago – 1992
Several members of Idyllwild School Club MAD (Make A Difference) helped out with landscaping at the Idyllwild HELP Center as part of their community service project for the month.

15 years ago – 1997
At press time, firefighter crews were battling four separate fires on the Hill.

10 years ago – 2002
A 17-year-old Idyllwild resident was arrested on suspicion of burglary, assault with a deadly weapon and home invasion after he entered a Stone Creek home wearing a ski mask and wielding a knife.

5 year ago – 2007
The Hospital Defense League filed suit to block the sale of the Valley Health System to Select Healthcare Solutions of Del Mar.

1 year ago – 2011
The Idyllwild Fire Protection District asked Riverside County for a $450,000 loan. Technically, the funds might have been considered an advance of $450,000 from the agency’s 2011-12 property taxes.

Similar Posts

  • Past Tense: Jan. 30, 2014

    65 years ago – 1949 So much snow had fallen during January that plans were underway to organize a ski club on the Hill. 60 years ago – 1954 Newlyweds Marilyn Monroe and Joe Di Maggio spent a honeymoon weekend at the Lloyd Wright cabin in Idyllwild. 55 years ago – 1959 Idyllwild old-timer Henry…

  • Past Tense: Feb. 7, 2013

    65 years ago – 1948 The two-man Forest Service staff, Ranger Don Bauer and Fire Control Assistant Bill Hersh, hiked six hours to Martinez Mountain to check a fire started when a P-80 military jet crashed and exploded. 60 years ago – 1953 The American Legion picked a site between Idyllwild and Mountain Center for…

  • |

    Past Tense: April 14, 2022

    75 years ago – 1947The U.S. Forest Service reported the insect situation had become critical in the Idyllwild area. Warm weather added another hatch of bugs and 750 trees were infected. 70 years ago – 1952The season’s rainfall totaled 43 inches.• • •Town Crier saluted Denis Evarts Bowman as one of Idyllwild’s most distinguished citizens….

  • Past Tense: May 10, 2012

    60 years ago – 1952 The Izaak Walton League agreed to spend $20 on trees and flowering shrubs for a school landscaping program. 55 years ago – 1957 The Hemet School District Board voted to comply with local requests that the seventh- and eighth-graders remain on the Hill. 50 years ago – 1962 The Idyllwild…