pened and we all listened to theradio for the rest of the after-noon while we pulled and ate thetaffy.

It was fun growing up in thesmall town. Mostly we inheritedour clothes from cousins, neigh-bors, or older siblings or elsethey were handmade after we gotto 4H. Being the oldest did notmean I got all the new clothes.The first new purchase I can re-member getting especially for mewas a green “car coat” with off-white leather collars and cuff ac-cents from Fantles. My dadcalled it my dog coat because ofthe collar. I also had to get a sizelarger than normal because myarms were so long they stuck outof the sleeves funny. To me it wasa regular dress coat.

CENTENNIAL: In 1961, I was11 years old when the Centennialcame to Yankton. Five of my fam-ily got the measles in April andmom and I had to keep runningto keep everyone pacified. All ofthem were sleeping in my par-ents’ bedroom because that wasthe only big bed downstairs. Idon’t recall where my parentsslept at that time. Anyway, once

everyone was back up andaround, I got the measles. (Nothat didn’t mean everyonewaited on me. They went out toplay and I was left in the housealone!)

To get back to my story, mymom never went to medical doc-tors, she used a chiropractor. Asnormal, when everyone was wellagain we all came to Yankton fora checkup. The day was Wednes-day of Centennial week and wegot to town in time to watch theparade which was HUGE. Myaunt had made each of the girls along yellow dress with tiny flow-ers on it (yellow was never my fa-

vorite color) so that we allmatched. I don’t remember whatthe boys wore. Once everyonehad been checked over we got togo to the midway area where allthe rides were. My job was towatch the others while they tooktheir rides.

Finally about 3:30, mom said itwas time to go. I was upset thatwe had to leave because I hadnot been able to take an olderkids ride. Mom gave in so I couldhave “one” ride. I chose the Spi-der (you know the one with 8legs with seating attached). I wasthe only one in my car. In themiddle of the ride, my mom

made the operator stop to let meoff. Talk about disappointed! Itseemed that my oldest brotherwas regressing back to his baby-hood. We rushed over to the chi-ropractor’s home where heworked with my brother andbrought him back to his normalself. I sure felt bad about missingmy ride but I later found out thatmy cousin wasn’t so lucky afterhis bout with the measles. Heended up being mentally handi-capped. Looking back we werelucky.

HIGH SCHOOL: I don’t knowhow my parents managed it, but Iwas lucky enough to go to MountMarty High School. My class hadabout 45 students. I thought thiswas wonderful. We wore uni-forms so being smartly dressedwas not a problem for this veryshort, extremely shy girl. When Iwent to enroll on the third floorof Bede Hall, the principal’s deskwas so high, the principal could-n’t see me until my mom broughtme around the desk. I guess I wasonly about 4’6” at the time. For

the first two years all classeswere held on the third floor withonly physical education heldelsewhere. It was in the base-ment! Can you imagine 10 min-utes to shower, dress and get upfour flights of stairs in time forthe next class?

In my sophomore year, I sur-prised my Latin teacher by beingone of three students to pass theNational Latin Test with a scorehigh enough to get recognized

PRESS & DAKOTAN ■ SATURDAY, AUGUST 6, 2011 YANKTON 150: PAGE 3D

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BY GARY WOODThe Press & Dakotan

It’s been nearly eight years since wemoved to Yankton. Our movehere has been a life-changing ex-perience and I have the commu-nity — our readers, ouradvertisers and especially thegreat employees of our com-pany — to thank for that.

I moved to Yankton in Sep-tember of 2003 to take the reinsof the newspaper as publisherwhen it was owned by MorrisCommunications. They were agood company to work for butit was always difficult to partici-pate and donate back to thecommunity for all the supportwe see.

As I’ve said before, thepaper was corporately ownedfor nearly 30 years and now that we areonce again locally owned and operatedwe’ve been able to give back more thanever before. We were afforded the oppor-tunity to become local owners of the old-est newspaper in the Dakotas back inMarch of 2008; we couldn’t have done itwithout the help of First Dakota NationalBank. Many thanks to Larry Ness and hiscrew for working with us to make it a real-ity. We feel fortunate to be one of two lo-

cally-owned and operated newspapersserving the Yankton market.

Well, on to what this is all about — cel-ebrating 150 years as a business and the

opportunity we’ve had to sup-port the “Mother City of theDakotas” as the community cele-brates the same 150 year timeframe. We’ve had great supportfrom the business community toprovide this historical piece toour readers. I hope you enjoythe stories, the historical frontpages and the ads. The frontpages you see have local, re-gional, national or internationalsignificance and some will beremembered by many in thecommunity. The stories of ournewspaper, the city of Yanktonand the region are some of themost newsworthy of their dayand many had great impact on

how this community has changed and de-veloped over the years.

You’ll notice that most of the ads are alittle bit of history themselves. Many ofour advertisers/business partners havetaken this opportunity to tell the commu-nity more about who they are, how theygot started in Yankton and where they aretoday. All have had an impact on thegrowth and development of our commu-nity. They are what keep us here and pro-

vide for the financial well being of our fam-ilies and friends.

The most important message I can con-vey here is THANK YOU! Thanks to ourreaders and advertisers for trusting us tobe the best source of local news andsports, the best vehicle to convey yourmessage to the community. Thank you to

the people of Yankton and the region forthe welcome my family and I receivedwhen we moved here. Thank you for allow-ing us to be a part of the family of Yanktonand thank you for reading.

Enjoy learning the history of Yanktonand the many businesses that have partici-pated in our celebration of 150 years. This

truly is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity andwe’re honored and humbled by that. As welook forward to the next 150 years and thechanges it will bring in how we deliver thebest local news and sports to our readersand the best advertising vehicle to ourbusinesses I’m just disappointed I won’t behere to see that day!

Gary

WOODP&D ARCHIVE PHOTO

The offices of the Press & Dakotan, circa the 1930s. The Press & Dakotan has been published continuously for 150 years,more than 100 of which have been at its current location. It is the oldest newspaper in the Dakotas and is once again locally-owned.

Wood: We Have Enjoyed OurRole In Telling The Town’s Story

Yankton: A Great Place To Call Home

ReflectionFrom Page 1D

REFLECTION | PAGE 6D

From Carol Shuff Winter: “This picture was taken after the Arickara Homecoming parade in September of1956. I am on the left in the official Drill Team uniform. Next to me are Ruth Huber Highland and Dee CookRoach; they are wearing Native American costumes, as many students did because a lot of us walked inthe parade. Next to them is Donna Mikkelsen DeJean who was a member of the YHS band. Next to her isJanet Magorien Shuff, wearing the real ‘50s scarf, plaid shirt and rolled up jeans! In front is Barbara Harriswith our pets. The picture was taken in front of my house at 500 Mulberry.”

ABOVE — From Leona Sparks: A photo of the Meloin and Leona Sparks family taken in June 1961 aroundthe time of the Dakota Territory centennial celebration in Yankton. Pictured are, from left: Leona, Meloin,Nancy, Ray and Vicki Sparks. BELOW — From Amberlee Willcuts: This photo of the Yankton County Court-house was taken shortly before it was torn down in 2003 and replaced by the Yankton County GovernmentCenter.