Kewanee History from the Files of the Star Courier, compiled by Dave Clarke

Compiled by Dave Clarke

April 6, 2022 at 7:18 AM·5 min read

15 years ago
Friday, April 6, 2007

Wayne William "Bill" Bartlett, 76, a retired Kewanee High School teacher, passed away Wednesday, April 4, at his home. A native of Griggsville, he served in the Marine Corps and married his wife, Alice, in the chapel at Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, Calif., on Dec. 12, 1952. He farmed for seven years near Griggsville then moved his family to Macomb where he graduated from WIU in 1964 and from Bradley University in Peoria in 1968. He taught business education in Stronghurst, Ill., for three years and then at Kewanee High School for 25 years until he retired in 1991.
Peter Tanzillo, of Kewanee, and Tanner Carlson, of Annawan, have been named to the Quad-City Times All-Western Illinois basketball team for the 2006-2007 season.

Kevin Jaquet, a member of the Galva FFA Chapter, was selected Wednesday night at Amboy High School, as the winner of the District I FFA Prepared Public Speaking Contest. The title of Jaquet's speech was "We must protect the Earth today for a brighter tomorrow."
A free information session for anyone looking to become a professional truck driver will be held Friday, April 18 at the Black Hawk East Outreach Center in Kewanee. The next class will begin May 19. David Harris, East Campus outreach coordinator, said, "After our last class we had a recruiter from a national trucking company call us looking for drivers."

The Village of Annawan has sold a parking lot on the north side of Front Street to the State Bank of Annawan at a cost of $1,600. Plans are to build a new bank at this location. The purchase price was the same as that paid by the village to the Rock Island Line which operates a railroad track just north of the site. (The new, modern bank building opened on Monday, April 3, 1973, moving from 301 W. Front St., where it had been located since the 1930s. — D.C.)
Kewanee High's new track and field Coach Dave Edleman's Boilermakers smoked visiting Rockridge 85-38 on the stadium cinders Wednesday afternoon. Kewanee had three multiple event winners on the varsity level — seniors Nelson Lay and Larry Taylor and junior Mike Harvey.

Prospects appear bright for construction of new armories in both Kewanee and Galva, State Rep., John Nowlan said following a conference with Col. E. J. Dayton, Assistant Adjutant General of the Illinois National Guard in Springfield. Eleven million dollars has been appropriated for 16 new state armories in a post-war bill passed in the last session of the legislature. Cities which were first to give clear title to building sites were given priority, including Kewanee and Galva. The Kewanee site is at the corner of East and First streets. The Galva site is across from the high school on Morgan Road.
There will be a special meeting of the board of directors of Kewanee Homes, Incorporated, on Wednesday, April 19 in the Kewanee Coca-Cola Company office at 401 Tenney St. Officers declared today they hope that within the next week they will be able to put plans out for bids for the proposed new homes in Kewanee. (Kewanee Homes was organized to administer state post-war recovery funds aimed at providing easily affordable housing for returning G. I.'s and their young families. It resulted in the creation of the Eastlawn and Westlawn additions in southeast Wethersfield. Veterans could purchase a newly constructed home with up to 90 percent of the cost paid with Federal Housing Authority funds. Robert Hatcher, manager of the Kewanee Coca-Cola bottling plant, was president of Kewanee Homes, Inc., hence the location of the meeting. — D.C.)

Ray Morey, 13-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Morey, living five miles north of Kewanee on the Annawan road, suffered the fracture of both bones in his right arm yesterday. Mr. Morey was getting ready to take Ray and his brother to school and was about to back out of the garage. The engine died and Ray jumped out to start it again. While cranking the car, the accident occurred. The lad was brought at once to the city and the fracture was reduced at Kewanee Public Hospital where he spent the night.
Sixteen members of the Baptist Young Ladies Gymnasium Class gave a theater party Tuesday evening in honor of MIss Philippa Hendra, the class teacher. The affair marked the close of a successful season's work. The young ladies attended the presentation of "Way Down East" at the Majestic after which they enjoyed refreshments at the Band Box. ("Way Down East" was a 1920 silent romantic drama directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish. It came five years after Griffith's release of the now controversial "Birth of Nation" in 1915, which also starred Gish. According to an online synopsis of the movie, "A young woman, after the birth of a child out of wedlock and lured into a false marriage by a wealthy womanizer, finally finds the chance for happiness on a friendly farm." Sounds a bit racy for a young Baptist ladies' theater party. It's 10 p.m. Do you know what your daughters are doing at the Majestic?— D.C.)