May 26, 2006

Oroville Mercury Register December 3,1945

Bettie Wallace Victory Queen
Finish Close Rotary Club Entry Comes From Behind
Bettie Wallace today became Victory Queen of Oroville. She bested her nearest opponent, Nodeene Porter, by almost 200 votes in the exciting finish that saw Oroville reach 57.1% of its E-Bond quota, Bond sales Saturday, final day of the Victory Loan Queen Contest, totaled $29,656.25, bringing the amount of E bonds sold in the drive to $158,485 according to the announcement today by Don Hobbie chairman.

The final standings in the queen contest, as announced by a W. E. Tooley, Chairman: Bettie Wallace-1539, Nodeene Porter – 1347, Ione Anderson – 1293, Mary Lou Hocking -1170, Marion Filter -469 and Marjorie Shore – 257. The total vote of 6242 represents the sale of $117, 037.50. Before the queen contest started Nov. 12, Oroville had sold $39,887.50 in E. Bonds. Miss Wallace, sponsored by the Rotary Club will be credited with the victory and will compete with the Victory Queens of Chico and Gridley for the county title. Butte County’s Victory Queen will be given an expense-paid trip to San Francisco to compete with other county queens for the state title. The winning queen piled up 718 votes on the last day of the voting. Miss Porter had the highest final day vote, but she was beaten by Miss Wallace who had led the second place contestant in the last tabulations Friday. Ione Anderson, the Lions entry, was credited with 468 votes on the last day, slipping from the contest lead to third place. Miss Hocking, the Elks candidate, piled up 551 votes Saturday.

The two banks and post office were rushed Saturday during all of their morning working hours. In the afternoon and evening, the State Theatre, only bond issuing agent open after noon Saturday, experienced an unprecedented rush of bond buyers who kept three people busy until midnight filling out bond applications. Bond sales Saturday were the largest of the drive, with sales amounting to more than $15,000 higher than any previous day. Results of the queen contests in Chico and Gridley were not known this afternoon.

Bettie wins county title over Chico Girl. Miss Wallace was unofficially pronounced Butte County queen this afternoon when it was learned that Chico had sold only $69,037 in bonds attributable to the queen contest. This was 15.78% of the Chico quota. The winner in Chico was Miss Donna Mitchell, who was credited with more bonds that the other four contestants put together

Oroville Mercury March 28, 1951

Oroville Soldier Suffers Third Wound In Korea
Pfc. Theodore A Miland, 19, son of Mr. and Mrs. Arnold M. Miland of Palermo Road, was wounded March 12 while driving an ammunition truck in the Korean war zone. His name was included today in a list of California men reported as casualties. His parents said they received a letter from him March 21, saying that he had been shot through one foot but that he expected to return to duty in a month. He was in a hospital in Japan. On the Korean front since last August, he has been wounded three times, according to his letters to his parents. The other two wounds apparently were superficial, and his parents received no notification from the defense department. He was wounded once in the mouth and once in the foot before his third wound resulted in his being sent to a hospital. Miland was graduated from the eighth grade in Feather Falls and attended Oroville high school before enlisting in the Army three years ago.

Women too busy for Defense Jobs
BELLEAIR, Fla. (U.P.) The nation’s young women are too busy with husbands and babies to take defense jobs, members of the National Association of Manufacturers were told here yesterday. Ivan V. Lawrence, vice president of the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co., said the post-war spurt in marriages cut the supply of available girls in half. He suggested factory day nurseries as an inducement to get them back.

Stu’s Notes: I am always thrilled when one of my readers calls about a story. This week it was an Oroville Veteran’s Memorial Park Committee member, Joan Robertson, who called me. She told me that Joseph May was her stepfather, and a very good one at that. Joseph had quite an adventure in the Navy on a Sub-Chaser. Joan will write me a story. She also told me that she talked to Barry Turk, son of Lyle Turk, hopefully another story will come from him. Joan, sister Jan along with Jan’s husband Bill, moved back to Oroville in the past few years and have been great support for our Committee. They are all hard workers. It seems like being wounded for the third time would get you a ticket home, but young Pfc. Theodore had a very important job. Getting the Ammo up to the front lines was most important. Maybe America needs to go back to War Bonds, we could then give our troops everything they need. The 3M company was way ahead of the time, at least in ideas.