Here’s some old news from the Andover, East Andover, West Andover, Potter Place, and Cilleyville “gossip” columns of the Franklin Journal Transcript, selected by Heather Makechnie.
September 3, 1964
Mr. and Mrs. Richard Marvin will have their lunch room open on the weekend. It will be called the We-O-Na. We wish them lots of luck.
September 10, 1964
Editorial: “The armed robbery that happened here [in Franklin] is something other than an isolated incident. It is the kind of crime that can happen again and again, more and more often, in the years to come.
“We live not so far from Boston and Southern New England, where these crimes are common. The great urban megalopolis that sprawls along the Eastern seaboard all the way to Washington, DC comes but a few miles from us. It’s easy to get into the Franklin area. It’s easy to get out again.
“As we have noted often in recent years, the need for a sharp, professional police department, well equipped to do the job it’s called on increasingly to do, is ever more urgent.”
September 17, 1964
Franklin Attorney Alexander Lachiatto is looking for folks who make use of the Boston and Maine Railroad passenger service.
Following authorization at last week’s Council Meeting, he was appointed by Mayor Donald W. Cushing to make a local study of train use in order to determine whether, and to what extent, the city of Franklin will join in opposition to a petition by the railroad seeking to abandon passenger service in New Hampshire.
Registration of a class of 179 boys, highest number in the 112 years of its history, is underway today at Proctor Academy in Andover.
Andover Elementary School opened on Wednesday, September 9, with 157 pupils registering for grades one through eight, Principal Raymond Burton has announced. The new faculty members include Mr. Burton as principal and science teacher; Miss Frances Togus, English and reading; Martin Feuerstein, math, reading, and physical education; Mrs. Florence Blake, grade three; Mrs. Carolyn Currier, grade two; Mrs. Mary Sawyer, home economics; Mrs. Evelyn Haight, school nurse.
Children from town going to Kiddie Korner Kindergarten in Salisbury are Chucky Scott, Debbie Fenton, Toni Keyser, Bonnie Ireland, Scott Ireland, Jonathan Snyder, Garry George, and Wendy and Wayne Curtis.
September 24, 1964
Editorial: “The students of Franklin High School were done out of roughly 15 minutes of school yesterday morning … including probably 10 minutes of actual class time. Why?
“Five minutes before the tardy bell was due to ring at 8 AM, Mrs. Evelyn Beauly, school secretary, received a phone call: ‘There’s a bomb at the high school.’
“Who called? A husky-voiced young man. And that was all that he said.
“In short order, Mrs. Beauly informed Principal Joseph Burleigh, called Superintendent Herman Donegan, called the fire department, and called the police department. The school was empty of students before 8 AM.
“After a thorough search, no bomb was found. Mr. Burleigh said that although incidents of this kind had happened all around, this was the first time in his memory that it had happened in Franklin.”
Private funeral services were held for Mrs. Helen Robinson Edgar, who died at her home in Andover on September 15 after a long illness.
Mrs. Edgar was a native of Jamaica Plains, Massachusetts, and had lived in Andover for the past 44 years. She was a graduate of Chalif School of Dancing in New York City.
She founded and directed Ragged Mountain Camp for Girls from 1920 to 1957. Her son, the late John B. Edgar, founded the Ragged Lake Camp for boys in 1937.
Shorty Guptill, son of Mr. and Mrs. Leo Guptill, entered his race horse in Hopkinton Fair and won two races, then went to Tunbridge Fair on the weekend and won two races and the JP Lake Trophy. Shorty was the youngest driver there. He has entered the University of New Hampshire for his freshman year.
New Football Coach at Proctor Academy: David Fowler, former Colby College [Waterville, Maine] football captain, has been appointed Varsity Football Coach at Proctor, Headmaster Lyle H. Farrell announced this week. Fowler will replace Coach Spencer W. Wright as Head Coach.
David Fowler was Co-Captain of Choate, from which he graduated in 1953. He entered the Marine Corps after his freshman year at Colby. Returning in 1956, he played three years of varsity football and was Co-Captain his senior year.
Graduating from Colby in 1960 with a BA in American History, he married Alice Stebbins of Colchester, Connecticut and became Football Coach at Hawaii Preparatory Academy for four years.