Turning Back the Pages

100 years ago — 1922

Mr. Stephen Newberry has been suffering from an infected leg caused by the falling of a stick of cordwood, while he was sawing wood recently.

— William Parmalee is moving to Mr. Sanger’s house, where he will be the caretaker.

— Halloween night passed very quietly and with little damage. Signs were changed, wagons and other loose articles moved from one place to another and the same old stunts carried out.

50 years ago — 1972

Austin Barney, his wife Faye and their 10-year-old daughter Darlene fought their way through smoke and heat to escape their burning home shortly after 7 Saturday morning as fire leveled Town and Country Motors on Route 4. Little over an hour later, despite efforts of firefighters from Sharon, Cornwall and Lakeville, flames had consumed the building.

— Sharon Hospital’s $2.5 million modernization program took center stage last Thursday at the annual meeting of the Sharon Hospital Auxiliary as the auxiliary presented a $10,000 check to the Building Committee.

— William Barnett, Salisbury’s First Selectman, is recovering at Sharon Hospital from injuries suffered in a fall from a ladder last Wednesday. Mr. Barnett was painting a section of the exterior of his home when the accident occurred.

— A state grant of $10,500 has enabled the Housatonic Valley Regional High School to purchase several new business machines to expand and improve their program in typing, dictation and office procedures.

25 years ago — 1997

Twice the stately red brick building on the hill on Route 7 has been closed. The last time it was scheduled for demolition. What seemed like a hopeless situation took a dramatic turn last week with the news that Geer Corp. will receive a $1.9 million federal grant to renovate the old Geer Memorial Hospital building, turning it into apartments for the elderly.

— Veteran Northwest Corner journalist Ruth Epstein of Kent will become editor of The Lakeville Journal effective Nov. 17. David Parker, Journal editor since January 1995, announced the appointment this week.

— Bettina Bucklin of Clinton Corners, N.Y., and Stephanie Wakelin of Fort Myers, Fla., have donated 60 acres of land next to Route 112 in Lakeville to The Nature Conservancy. The women are the children of former Lakeville residents Bettina Verbeck and the grandchildren of Ruth Bauer, who also lived in Lakeville.