TIMES PAST August 7, 2024
This week’s Times Past photos show two Ozark County natives who proudly displayed their fishing success for the camera. Both were descendants of Ozark County pioneer families. Curt Luna (1888-1949), left, “taught 15 terms of school and served as a justice of the peace for four years,” according to his Ozark County Times obituary. Five years before his death, he and his wife, Cora Huffman Luna, “retired from their farm and moved to West Plains.” He is buried in the Smith Chapel Cemetery near Zanoni. Caleb Dean (1891-1951), lived in Ozark County all his life, sharing a farm near Tecumseh with his wife, Zina McCleary Dean. He is buried in the Hog Danger (now Mount Pleasant) Cemetery near Elijah. The photos are undated, and their source is unknown.
Ozark County News
Aug. 7, 1890
On last Wednesday, Martin Smith, son of W. A. Smith, was struck by lightning and killed while in a school room teaching in Brixey, in the north part of this county. The school was in session at the time and some fifty pupils were in the school house. A thunder shower was passing over, and a tree near the school was struck by lightning and at the same time the electricity came down the flue and struck the teacher, killing him instantly. Many of the children were shocked by the stroke but none were seriously injured. Mr. Smith was an exemplary young man, about 21 years old.
The Democrat
Aug. 10, 1904
Thomas Morgan, a farmer residing near Blue Mound seven miles southwest of this city, was stabbed to death Tuesday afternoon by his brother, Isom Morgan. The killing was the result of a quarrel, in which one bro used a hoe for a weapon and the other a knife, with fatal results.
The Republican
Aug. 9, 1906
Building, repairing and painting is still going on, and yesterday the citizens began a volunteer street cleaning, which was much needed. . . . The side-walks need attention next, as there are places in them where it is dangerous to try to go alone after night, and one to be safe has to travel in the middle of the street.
Ozark County Times
Aug. 7, 1914
The primary election here Tuesday passed off very quietly, the vote was very light, as was the case all over the county.
Aug. 10, 1944
Mrs. Juanita Mitchell, 72, widow of the late P. R. Mitchell, pioneer banker of Bakersfield, died Sunday at her house in Bakersfield, death resulting from a cerebral hemorrhage. . . . Following her husband’s death 24 years ago, Mrs. Mitchell was cashier of the bank and also a member of the board of directors.
“Our Boys in the Service” – Headquarters, A.E.F., France: . . . Staff Sgt. Hobart J. Moffis of Trail, Mo., is now somewhere in France. He is a member of the First Service Group of the Allied Expeditionary Air Force to land in Normandy after D-Day. . . . The Group functions as a team, often under fire, to keep Allied planes in fighting trim.
Aug. 6, 1964
Mrs. Sue N. Gault, 55, the wife of the Ozark county representative in the state legislature, who died suddenly Sunday night, is succeeding him as the Republican nominee for this county. Mr. Gault was unopposed for the Republican nomination for another term in office. . . . Monday morning, Marvin Pare, Republican county committee chairman, appointed the widow, Sue N. Gault, for the vacancy. . . . Mrs. Gault, by winning the nomination in the primary, will be the only candidate on the ballot for representative in the general election in November. The Democrats did not have a candidate for the primary nomination.
Aug. 10, 1989
Voters in the Lutie R-6 school district went to the polls in record numbers Tuesday, saying “yes” to a higher tax levy to finance a high school program but “no” to a bond issue to expand the school plant.