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Published on 11/13/1995 All articles from this issue

In the Past...

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25 years ago in the Town Crier

As reported in the November 18, 1970 edition of the Town Crier, Claire Pelton, English teacher and department chairman at Los Altos High School, was appointed to the Board of Directors of the California Council on the Education of Teachers at its fall 1970 conference.

It was the first time in the council's history that a teacher, rather than a district administrator or college professor, had become a member of the board. Another milestone had been achieved in 1966 when Pelton was the first teacher ever appointed to the organization.

A small belium balloon released skyward in early November 1970 by 11-year-old Anna Wolfgram, a sixth grader at Purissima School, landed in north central Missouri, some 1,500 miles to the east.

News of its landing came in a letter received 10 days after the launching. Anna had Carefully attached a note to the balloon asking its finder to notify her of a safe landing and offering a reward of 25 cents. The letter concluded with the postscript, "You keep the 25 cents and have a Coca-Cola."

Some of the featured bargains at Los Altos markets for the ingredients of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner were: fresh hen turkeys, 45 cents per pound; dressing mix, 59 cents for 13 ounces; yams, two pounds for 29 cents; cranberries, 19 cents a can; frozen pumpkin or mince meat pie, 59 cents; and grey Riesling, $1.89 for a fifth.

50 years ago in the Los Altos News

As reported in the November 15, 1945 issue of the Los Altos News, a new allocation of Navy Department funds to Moffett Field totaling $1,986,660 was announced by the commanding field officers.

The money was earmarked for construction of a new 7,500 foot runway and new taxi-ways strong enough to handle planes of 125,000 pounds total weight.

Funds were also allocated for completion of Hanger 3, the huge aircraft shelter on which work had been discontinued when the war ended.

With Thanksgiving 1945 only a week away, the Agricultural Extension Service said it was time to talk turkey, especially since there were more turkeys available for civilians.

The service had issued a bulletin for interested homemakers on how to clean and dress their own turkeys. It covered all the necessary steps involved in drawing tendons, removing the crop, cleaning the inside and stuffing the bird.

Those who preferred a Thanksgiving feast without the lengthy preliminaries were invited by Brennan's Drive-In Restaurant at El Camino Real and San Antonio Road to a special turkey dinner with all the traditional trimmings for $2 complete.

Researched by Ellen Shaw, Los Altos History House Association